BV  600  . B86 
Brunner,  Edmund  de 
Schweinitz,  1889- 
Churches  of  distinction  in 

town  and  country 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 
IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 


The  Committee  on  Social  and  Religious  Sur¬ 
veys ,  which  is  responsible  for  this  publication, 
was  organized  in  January,  1921.  The  Commit¬ 
tee  conducts  and  publishes  studies  and  surveys 
and  promotes  conferences  for  their  considera¬ 
tion.  Its  aim  is  to  combine  the  scientific  method 
with  the  religious  motive.  It  cooperates  with 
other  social  and  religious  agencies,  but  is  itself 
an  independent  organization. 

The  Committee  is  composed  of:  John  R. 
Mott,  Chairman;  Ernest  D.  Burton,  Secretary; 
Raymond  B.  Fosdick,  Treasurer;  James  L.  Bar¬ 
ton  and  W .  H.  P.  Faunce.  Galen  M.  Fisher  is 
Executive  Secretary.  The  offices  are  at  370 
Seventh  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


CHURCHES  o/DISTINCTION 
IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 


EDITED  B 


EDMUND  deS.  BRUNNER 


With  a  Foreword  by 


EDWARD  ALSWORTH  ROSS 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND  MAPS 


NEW 


YORK 


GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1923, 


BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


/ 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION  IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY. 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


/ 


ERRATA 


P.  VIII.  and  Contents:  The  authorship 
of  Chapter  IX.,  “Buckhorn,  Kentucky,”  is 
erroneously  attributed  to  Dr.  U.  L.  Mackey. 
Dr.  Mackey  was  responsible  for  the  field 
work  at  Buckhorn  only. 

P.  VIII.:  For  “Reformed  Church  in 
America,”  read  “Reformed  Church  in  the 
United  States.” 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/churchesofdistin00brun_0 


FOREWORD 


By  Edward  Alsworth  Ross 

PROFESSOR  OF  SOCIOLOGY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 

Some  day  there  will  be  sociologists  from  China,  India, 
Iraq,  Egypt,  visiting  us — men  with  a  Confucian,  Buddhist, 
or  Mohammedan  background.  How  will  they  react  to  what 
this  book  describes?  What  will  they  think  of  rural  com¬ 
munities  knit  together  by  religious  ideas  and  organization? 
I  fancy  the  sight  will  warm  their  hearts  as  it  warms  mine. 
For  your  true  sociologist  is  enchanted  to  see  men  and  women 
cooperating  in  the  pursuit  of  the  higher  interests.  These 
chapters  picture  for  us  real  communities,  tasting  some  of 
the  sweetest  of  human  experiences — fellowship,  social  sym¬ 
pathy,  harmony,  teamwork  on  behalf  of  the  finer  aims  of 
life.  It  is  plain  that  the  country  churches  here  described 
are  fulfilling  an  ennobling  and  socializing  mission.  Where 
they  function  the  farmers  will  never  become  animalized 
peasants  like  those  repulsive  creatures  Zola  describes  in 
“La  Terre.,,  How  many  youthful  aspirations  would  wither 
but  for  them !  How  many  rare  and  noble  spirits  on  the 
farms  these  churches  reach  are  cheered  and  made  glad  by 
fellowship  in  the  quest  of  the  noblest  ideals  that  have  been 
set  before  men  ? 

Consider  the  rubbish  the  ordinary  newspaper  spreads  be¬ 
fore  its  readers.  Mark  the  trash  displayed  on  the  stand  in 
the  station  waiting-room.  When  I  note  what  the  people  on 
the  trains  read,  I  wonder  whether  the  warfare  on  illiteracy 
is  worth  while.  But  when  I  contemplate  these  live,  vigor¬ 
ous  Christian  churches  promoting  acquaintance  with  the 
Psalms,  the  Prophets,  the  Gospels,  the  Epistles — the  best 
that  has  ever  been  said  or  written — I  cheer  up.  After  view- 


VI 


FOREWORD 


in g  the  sporting  page,  the  comics,  and  the  pictorial  maga¬ 
zines,  I  am  grateful  for  the  pulpit  and  the  Sunday  school, 
particularly  in  the  open  country  where,  owing  to  cultural 
barrenness,  it  is  easy  to  lose  sight  of  the  things  of  the  spirit ; 
and  I  think  the  sociologist  from  Sian  Fu  or  Bagdad  would 
feel  the  same. 

These  stories  show  the  technique  of  serving  the  com¬ 
munity  by  means  of  a  church.  They  make  clear  just  what 
may  be  done  to  stimulate  the  higher  interests — intellectual, 
social,  religious — in  the  countryside.  There  must  be  thou¬ 
sands  of  struggling  rural  churches  which,  from  these  pages, 
may  learn  how  properly  to  fulfill  their  task. 


PREFACE 


During  1922  the  Committee  on  Social  and  Religious  Sur¬ 
veys  undertook  to  make  a  first-hand  investigation  of  the 
forty  most  successful  town  and  country  churches  which 
could  be  found  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  The  methods 
of  work  employed  by  these  churches  and  the  basis  adopted 
by  the  Committee  in  selecting  the  forty  from  the  hundreds 
of  prominent  churches  in  the  country  are  treated  in  a  com¬ 
panion  volume,  “Tested  Methods  in  Town  and  Country 
Churches.”  The  present  volume  contains  the  stories  of 
fourteen  of  the  forty,  chosen,  not  necessarily  because  they 
were  in  all  respects  the  best,  but  because  each  of  them  illus¬ 
trates  some  particular  condition  or  problem  and  its  suc¬ 
cessful  solution.  They  are  published  in  the  hope  that  they 
may  be  of  assistance  to  leaders  who  are  facing  similar 
problems. 

Although  these  fourteen  stories  deal  with  churches  of 
various  sizes  and  denominations  and  situated  in  various  cir¬ 
cumstances,  they  show  that  success  comes  by  the  discerning 
application  of  a  few  basic  principles  which  take  shape  in 
differing  methods  for  each  situation.  It  is  hardly  likely  that 
any  reader  will  be  tempted  to  apply  slavishly  the  methods 
described.  Any  such  attempt  would  probably  be  unfortu¬ 
nate.  He  will  be  able,  however,  to  seize  upon  the  under¬ 
lying  principles  involved  and  regard  the  methods  as  sugges¬ 
tions  which  may  be  adapted  freely  to  his  own  needs. 

Each  of  the  stories  is  the  result  of  a  careful  investigation 
by  an  employed  field  worker  over  a  period  of  from  eight 
days  to  a  month.  The  final  chapter,  dealing  with  Middle 
Octoraro,  is  more  elaborated  than  the  rest  in  order  to  indi¬ 
cate  something  of  the  type  and  scope  of  the  investigation 
conducted  in  each  place.  In  addition  to  its  own  staff,  the 
Committee  was  fortunate  in  being  able  to  avail  itself  of  the 


PREFACE 


•  •  • 

Till 

services  of  certain  individuals  loaned  to  it  by  the  courtesy 
of  other  organizations.  Rev.  H.  N.  Morse,  of  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Board  of  Home  Missions,  and  Dr.  U.  L.  Mackey,  of 
the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  New  York,  are  each  responsible 
for  one  chapter,  while  fifteen  churches,  three  of  which  are 
included  in  the  present  volume,  were  studied  by  Mr.  John 
Myers  and  Mr.  Ernest  Brindle,  of  the  Home  Mission  Board 
of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America. 


CONTENTS 


Foreword  by  Edward  Alsworth  Ross 


PAGE 

V 


Preface  . 

CHAPTER 

I  Modern  Methods  on  a  Circuit — Centerton, 
Arkansas  . 

Marjorie  Patten 

II  A  Case  of  Self-Determination — Parma, 
Idaho  ........ 

Helen  O.  Belknap 

-  Ill  Much  in  Little — Canoga,  N.  Y.  . 

Elizabeth  Wootton 

IV  Digging  Out  the  Boys — Bingham  Canyon, 
Utah  ........ 

Marjorie  Patten 

V  Ministering  to  the  Migrant — Larned, 
Kansas . 

Ernest  Brindle 

VI  The  Larger  Parish — Collbran  and  Mon¬ 
trose,  Colorado  . 

Elizabeth  Wootton 

VII  An  Indian  Example — Sacaton,  Arizona  . 

Helen  O.  Belknap 


VIII  The  Old  Order  Changeth- 
Texas . 

Marjorie  Patten 


-Gonzales, 


Vll 


17 


27 


42 


49 


60 


67 


82 


95 


IX 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

IX  Where  the  Church  is  Everything — Buck- 

horn,  Kentucky . 112 

U.  L.  Mackey 

X  The  Church  at  the  Center — Davis,  Cali¬ 
fornia  . 123 

Marjorie  Patten 

XI  Self-Americanization — Stanton,  Iowa  .  135 

John  Myers 


XII  The  Church  with  a  Purpose — Dayton,  In¬ 
diana  . 147 

John  Myers  and  Grace  Fairley 

XIII  The  Village  Church — Honey  Creek,  Wis¬ 
consin  . 160 

Helen  O.  Belknap 


XIV  Two  Centuries  of  Success — Middle  Octo- 

raro,  Pennsylvania . 171 

H.  N.  Morse 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

centerton’s  “fight  fans”  watch  an  exhibition 

BOUT  BY  BOYS  OF  THE  ATHLETIC  CLUB 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ORCHESTRA  OF  SEVENTEEN  PIECES 

KIRKPATRICK  MEMORIAL  COMMUNITY  CHURCH  . 

BOY  SCOUTS  OF  THE  PARMA  TROOP  ABOUT  TO  START  ON 
A  CAMPING  TRIP . 

THE  BOY  SCOUT  FLOAT  AT  CANOGA’s  FOURTH  OF  JULY 
CELEBRATION . 

THE  LITTLE  COMMUNITY,  UNDER  THE  LEADERSHIP  OF 
THE  CHURCH,  SUPPORTS  A  FLOURISHING  DRAMATIC 
ASSOCIATION . 

THE  PASTOR,  WHO  IS  ALSO  SCOUTMASTER,  AND  HIS  BOYS 

WHAT  THE  BOY  SCOUTS  FIND  AFTER  HIKING  TWO  MILES 
THROUGH  A  TUNNEL — A  WELCOME  CHANGE  FROM 
THEIR  TREELESS  CANYON . 

THE  LONG  UNLOVELY  MAIN  STREET  OF  BINGHAM 
CANYON  STRAGGLES  ALONG  FOR  THIRTEEN  MILES  IN 
THIS  CLEFT  BETWEEN  RUGGED  AND  PRECIPITOUS 
MOUNTAINS . 

ONE  OF  THE  FOUR  CHURCPIES  ON  THE  LARNED  CIRCUIT  . 

A  DISPLAY  OF  GARDEN  PRODUCE  AT  THE  BOOTH  FESTIVAL 

THE  RODEO - THE  EVENT  OF  THE  YEAR  AT  COLLBRAN  . 

PICNIC  OF  THE  PLEASANT  VIEW  SUNDAY  SCHOOL,  COLL¬ 
BRAN  . 

THE  PRIMARY  CLASS  OF  THE  CASA  BLANCA  CHURCH  IN 
THE  SACATON  FIELD . 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 


Xll 


IF  THE  HOUSE  OF  A  WIDOW  FALLS  INTO  BAD  REPAIR 
HER  FELLOW  CHURCH  MEMBERS  FIX  IT  UP  FOR  HER 

THE  SACATON  PIMA  CHURCH  BUILT  AS  A  MEMORIAL  TO 
DR.  COOK . 

- - AND  ONE  OF  THE  ELDERS . 

THE  PASTOR  AND  HIS  CONGREGATION  ENJOY  AN  AL 
FRESCO  BANQUET . 

TWO  PARISHIONERS  OF  MONTHALIA  .... 

THE  BUCKHORN  SETTLEMENT . 

THE  PASTOR  MAKES  HIS  ROUNDS  AND  THE  SUNDAY 
SCHOOL  TEACHER  RIDES  TO  HER  CLASS  ON  MULE 
BACK  .......... 

ABOVE  IS  A  GROUP  OF  URCHINS  WHO  HAVE  RECENTLY 
BEGUN  ATTENDING  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL.  BELOW 
ARE  TWO  SENIOR  STUDENTS  JUST  FINISHING  THEIR 
COURSE  . 

DAVIS  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH . 

THE  DAILY  VACATION  BIBLE  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  TEACHING 
OF  WHICH  THE  EX-SERVICE  MAN  ON  THE  LEFT  HAS 
VOLUNTEERED  HIS  SERVICES . 

THE  BIG  WHITE  CHURCH  IN  THE  LITTLE  WHITE  TOWN 

THE  BOY  SCOUTS  OF  THE  DAYTON  CHURCH,  UNDER  THE 
LEADERSHIP  OF  THE  PASTOR,  FORM  THE  FIRE-FIGHT¬ 
ING  FORCE  FOR  THE  COMMUNITY  .... 

THE  CHURCH  BULLETIN  BOARD . 

A  VIEW  OF  HONEY  CREEK  VILLAGE . 

- AND  SOME  OF  THE  INHABITANTS - MEMBERS  OF 

THE  LADIES’  AID . 

THE  SUMMER  CAMP  IS  ONE  OF  THE  ACTIVITIES  OF  MID¬ 
DLE  OCTORARO  CHURCH . 

THE  TWO-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD  CHURCH  OF  MIDDLE  OC¬ 
TORARO  . 


PAGE 

88 

89 

89 

96 

96 

116 

116 


117 

128 

128 

144 

152 

152 

164 

164 

176 

176 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 
MAPS 


THE  BUCKHORN  PLANT . 

TRADE  COMMUNITIES  AND  NEIGHBORHOOD  FROM 
WHICH  THE  CHURCH  DRAWS,  MIDDLE  OCTORARO  . 

THE  CHURCH  PARISH,  MIDDLE  OCTORARO 


xiii 


PAGE 

117 

176 

176 


MAP  SHOWING  DISTANCES  OF  HOMES  OF  CHURCH  MEM¬ 
BERS  FROM  CHURCH,  MIDDLE  OCTORARO 


177 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 
IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 


\ 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 
IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 

Chapter  I 

MODERN  METHODS  ON  A  CIRCUIT 

CENTERTON,  ARKANSAS 

The  story  of  how  modern  methods  of  country  church  work 
were  successfully  applied  to  a  circuit. 

It  has  been  truly  said:  “There  is  nothing  that  counts  so 
much  in  country  life  as  good  neighborship.” 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Centerton, 
Arkansas,  owes  its  very  life  to  its  Gospel  of  Neighborliness. 
Through  it,  town  and  country  barriers  have  been  broken 
down  and  better  farms,  homes,  and  schools  have  developed. 
By  helping  others,  this  church  has  outgrown  its  circuit  and 
become  a  strong  independent  organization.  Every  one  in 
its  parish,  every  one  in  the  parishes  of  the  four  neighbor¬ 
hood  churches,  calls  it  Friend;  for  it  has  not  only  given 
encouragement  to  religion  but  has  aided  in  the  solving  of 
land  problems,  has  trained  new  leaders,  has  enlisted  the 
young  people  for  service  and  pointed  out  to  Centerton  the 
main  road  to  success. 

A  great  revival  meeting  was  held  in  a  church  of  the 
Middle  West  some  time  ago  at  which  Dr.  Warren  H.  Wil¬ 
son  astounded  a  large  congregation  by  turning  the  church 
pulpit  over  on  its  side  and  placing  on  it  a  cream  separator. 
He  followed  this  by  a  demonstration  of  what  could  be  done 
with  the  separator;  and  some  of  the  more  conservative  sis¬ 
ters  and  elders  were  quite  overcome  by  the  unconventional 
methods  of  the  preacher.  It  happened,  however,  that  this 

meeting  resulted  in  one  of  the  greatest  religious  revivals  ever 

17 


18 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


held  in  that  part  of  the  country ;  for  it  brought  the  farmer  and 
the  farmer’s  church  into  closer  relationship  and  made  both 
aware  that  each  could  help  the  other,  since,  after  all,  their 
problem  was  a  common  one. 

In  much  the  same  way  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  at  Centerton,  came  into  its  own.  Two  years  ago  the 
people  of  this  little  Ozark  plateau  village  of  northwest 
Arkansas  had  the  “blues.”  Their  great  apple  crop,  which 
had  always  been  their  main  source  of  income,  had  failed. 
Bank  resources  had  shrunk  from  $137,000  to  $91,000. 
Farmers  talked  of  the  hard  times  and  of  harder  times  still 
to  come.  Town  and  country  were  separated  by  barriers  of 
suspicion  and  misunderstanding. 

In  a  normal  year  apples  earn  $800,000  for  the  com¬ 
munity;  and  in  the  shipping  season  wagons  wait  their  turn, 
in  a  line  nearly  a  mile  long,  to  unload  at  the  depot.  But 
in  1921  a  frost  destroyed  nearly  all  the  fruit,  and  Centerton, 
having  no  other  crop  to  fall  back  on,  naturally  got  the 
“blues.” 

Church  life  was  at  low  ebb.  The  building  of  the  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  stood  neglected,  poorly 
equipped  and  in  poor  repair.  It  was  indifferently  sustained 
and  indifferently  attended.  Program  there  was  none;  and 
in  fact  there  never  had  been  one.  Church  funds  were  han¬ 
dled  in  a  hit-or-miss  fashion.  The  pastor  had  never  re¬ 
ceived  more  than  $1,000  salary  from  the  entire  circuit, 
which  at  that  time  included  Centerton  and  three  open  coun¬ 
try  churches  at  New  Home,  Osage  Mills,  and  Droke.  Mount 
Hebron  church  has  since  been  added  to  the  circuit.  At 
Centerton,  the  Baptist  and  Christian  churches  were  weak 
and  without  regular  pastors.  Services  were  held  irregu¬ 
larly  and  denominational  feeling  ran  high. 

No  young  people’s  work  was  in  progress,  and  no  groups 
were  organized  either  for  service  or  sociability,  at  the  Meth¬ 
odist  church.  The  church  Board  of  Stewards  was  inactive 
and  without  a  head.  Leadership  was  entirely  lacking.  And 
the  open  country  churches  in  the  circuit  were  all  in  the  same 
state  of  inactivity.  Their  memberships  were  small  and  scat¬ 
tered  and  their  services  poorly  attended. 


MODERN  METHODS  ON  A  CIRCUIT 


19 


CURING  THE  “BLUES” 

Just  at  this  time  the  Reverend  W.  J.  Le  Roy  was  sent  to 
the  Centerton  Circuit  to  build  up  a  “demonstration  parish.” 
To  this  optimistic,  friendly  pastor  it  was  clear  at  once  that 
before  he  could  hope  to  rebuild  the  church  organization  he 
must  cure  Centerton’s  “blues.”  It  was  not  long  before  he 
had  become  a  friend  of  farmer  and  business  man,  of  boys 
and  girls,  of  every  one  in  his  parish.  Centerton  is  an  all- 
American  village  of  350  inhabitants,  with  a  surrounding 
country  population  of  about  850.  Conservative  folk  of  fine 
southern  stock,  villagers  and  farmers  alike,  saw  that  the 
pastor  was  ready  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  help  solve  their 
problems ;  and,  therefore,  they  gave  him  their  support 
wholeheartedly. 

Believing  that  “if  God’s  house  was  to  prosper,  the  soil 
must  be  kept  fertile,  the  flocks  and  herds  built  up  and  the 
farm  home  made  contented  and  happy,”  he  made  an  in¬ 
tensive  survey  of  the  parish  to  learn  actual  existing  condi¬ 
tions.  The  results  surprised  even  the  farmers  themselves. 
He  found  that  farms  averaged  in  size  about  eighty  acres 
and  that  land  was  valued  at  $125  an  acre ;  that  the  average 
wealth  per  farm  was  $7,000;  that  only  2  per  cent,  of  the 
220  farms  within  a  six-mile  radius  were  operated  by  ten¬ 
ants;  that  there  was  more  wealth  among  these  people  than 
among  his  former  parishioners  in  even  larger  centers.  About 
the  countryside  he  found  prize  stock,  up-to-date  equipment, 
tractors,  many  automobiles  and  comfortable  farm  homes. 
The  pastor  carried  this  information  from  farm  to  farm  and 
soon  people  began  to  think  that  perhaps  they  were  not  so 
poor  after  all.  Little  by  little  they  began  to  regain  confi¬ 
dence  in  themselves  and  in  their  fellow  men. 

REACHING  OUT  TO  THE  FARMS 

Through  the  influence  of  the  County  Farm  Bureau,  in¬ 
terest  in  diversified  farming  was  growing  rapidly,  and  Mr. 
Le  Roy  worked  with  the  County  Agent  in  the  conviction 
that  “better  farms  make  better  folks.”  Together  they 


20 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


preached  the  value  of  raising  cattle,  hogs  and  poultry.  They 
encouraged  farmers  to  plant  berries  and  vegetables ;  to  raise 
apples  for  a  profit  crop,  but  to  raise  other  crops  to  live  on. 

At  Springdale  a  new  plant  was  being  erected  by  a  grape 
juice  company  which  promised  to  buy  all  the  grapes  the 
farmers  in  the  district  could  raise.  Mr.  Le  Roy  urged  the 
planting  of  vineyards. 

Each  community  in  the  county  chose  a  committee  to  look 
after  grape  interests ;  Mr.  Le  Roy  is  at  the  head  of  the  Grape 
Committee  for  Centerton.  When  a  meeting  was  held  in 
1922  at  Tontitown  to  give  farmers  an  opportunity  to  view 
the  vineyards  there,  the  pastor  was  present  with  the  largest 
single  delegation. 

A  new  spirit  of  cooperation  developed  which  resulted  in 
the  planting  of  acres  of  strawberries.  This  venture  proved 
such  a  success  that  a  Marketing  Association  for  berries  and 
beans  was  formed.  By  June,  1922,  the  organization  had  a 
membership  of  twenty-two  and  more  than  117  acres  of  ber¬ 
ries  had  been  signed  over  for  marketing. 

Dairying  has  developed  to  such  an  extent  that  a  coopera¬ 
tive  shipping  association  has  been  formed.  This  came  about 
partly  through  Mr.  Le  Roy’s  influence,  for  when  plans  for 
the  organization  were  being  laid,  the  men  interested  said 
to  him:  “Look  here,  we  can’t  form  anything  if  you  don’t 
come  along.”  So  the  preacher  jumped  into  the  automobile 
and  went  with  them  all  over  the  countryside  encouraging 
the  farmers  to  make  the  association  possible  by  their  co¬ 
operation. 

It  is  the  men  Mr.  Le  Roy  met  in  the  fields  and  barnyards 
that  now  swell  his  congregations.  They  call  him  the  “horti¬ 
cultural  preacher.”  He  and  Mrs.  Le  Roy  have  visited  in 
homes  within  a  radius  of  from  four  to  six  miles,  in  homes 
where  a  Methodist  preacher  had  not  been  for  many  years. 
This  friendly  man  of  God  claims  that  a  “visiting  pastor  has 
a  church-going  people” ;  and  his  present  congregations  seem 
to  prove  it  true.  He  says,  “Let  the  pastor  associate  himself 
with  the  daily  life  of  his  people  and  they  will  attend  his 
services.” 


MODERN  METHODS  ON  A  CIRCUIT 


21 


CENTERING  ACTIVITIES  IN  THE  CHURCH 


While  Mr.  Le  Roy  was  helping  the  farmers  with  their 
land  problems,  he  was  laying  foundations  for  a  strong 
community  church  organization.  He  appealed  to  his  people 
on  this  score :  “Whatever  you  are  denominationally,  while 
you  live  in  a  community  live  up  with  whatever  church  is 
there.  All  are  united  in  business  and  education.  Unless 
we  are  united  in  religion  we  are  like  so  many  stragglers. 
Without  cooperation  in  religion,  there  is  no  more  hope  for 
success  than  for  a  disorganized  business  project.”  First  the 
church  board  was  reorganized  and  meetings  were  held 
monthly,  after  which  the  plans  for  the  church  program 
were  laid  before  the  people  for  discussion  and  criticism.  In 
this  way  the  pastor  made  his  parishioners  feel  that  they 
counted  and  were  actually  necessary  participants  in  the 
activities  of  their  church. 

Then  he  went  out  after  leaders  and  when  he  found  them 
he  saw  to  it  that  they  were  given  their  church  jobs.  A 
weekly  teacher-training  class  was  introduced  in  order  to 
develop  efficient  leadership  among  the  young  people. 

Centerton’s  play  life  was  almost  an  unknown  quantity 
until  two  years  ago.  Boys  and  girls  were  not  organized  to 
do  anything — but  Mr.  Le  Roy  was  determined  to  make  his 
church  the  center  of  Centerton  and  he  and  Mrs.  Le  Roy 
set  out  to  organize  every  age-group  and  sex-group  for 
service  not  only  in  the  church  but  in  the  community. 

First  an  athletic  club  was  formed.  Mr.  Le  Roy  said, 
while  the  club  was  being  organized,  that  he  had  to  trust  in 
the  Lord  to  find  some  one  to  direct  the  work.  A  leader 
was  found  in  the  person  of  an  ex-army  man  who  freely 
offered  his  services  during  spare  time.  At  first  a  small 
store  was  used  for  meetings.  It  accommodated  only  about 
twenty  boys.  The  membership  increased  so  rapidly  that 
the  club  soon  outgrew  the  building  and  began  having  drills 
in  Main  Street.  But  the  street  was  not  a  satisfactory  place, 
so  the  boys  went  to  an  apple-packing  station  generously 
placed  at  their  disposal  by  a  prominent  citizen.  Apparatus, 


22 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


including  boxing  rings,  a  wrestling  mat,  punching  bags, 
trapeze  and  horizontal  bars,  were  purchased;  games,  calis¬ 
thenics,  running  matches  became  popular ;  and  once  a  month 
a  community  social  was  held.  To  this  affair  came  even  the 
older  people  from  miles  around.  One  of  the  oldest  members 
of  the  church  said  one  day,  as  she  watched  her  grandson 
wrestling  on  the  church  lawn:  “I  don’t  know  as  I  like  to 
see  a  relative  of  mine  mixed  up  in  this  sort  of  thing;  but 
I  suppose  it’s  all  right  after  all.”  And  that  is  the  way  all 
Centerton  came  to  feel  about  it.  It  was  all  right  if  Mr. 
Le  Roy  said  so.  The  athletic  club  membership  is  now  sev¬ 
enty-five  and  a  real  force  in  community  life. 

Young  married  women  and  girls  organized  a  group  known 
as  the  Pollyannas.  This  club  has  interested  itself  in  civic 
improvement  and  cooperates  with  the  athletic  club  in  keep¬ 
ing  the  village  in  a  sanitary  condition.  The  Pollyannas 
have  done  much  toward  the  beautification  of  Centerton  and 
have  encouraged  their  neighbors  to  plant  more  flowers. 
They  met  one  day  with  the  Mayor  and  Council  with  a 
petition  to  have  a  dilapidated  building  near  the  depot  torn 
down  and  suggested  to  the  authorities  of  the  Frisco  Rail¬ 
road  that  a  packing  house  be  erected  in  its  place  for  the 
shipping  of  berries  and  fruit  in  season.  They  plan  to  lay 
out  a  little  park  on  a  triangle  near  the  station  which  has 
long  been  an  eyesore,  an  ungraded  plot  of  ground  over¬ 
grown  with  weeds.  With  the  center  of  the  village  thus 
transformed,  other  improvements  are  sure  to  follow.  The 
Pollyannas  have  also  furnished  funds  for  volley-ball, 
tennis,  and  croquet  equipment  for  the  church  playground. 
They  meet  once  a  month  with  the  home  demonstration 
agent  who  comes  from  Bentonville  to  teach  them  sewing. 
This  is  a  real  church  community  club  and  Mrs.  Le  Roy 
says  “it  is  the  prize.” 

Then  there  are  the  Hustlers,  an  organization  of  girls 
whose  program  consists  of  socials  and  athletics.  When 
the  athletic  club  is  not  using  the  hall,  the  girls  go  down 
there  in  bloomers  and  middies,  go  through  their  drills  and 
do  stunts  to  their  hearts’  content.  They  are  learning  to 
stand  and  breathe  properly. 


MODERN  METHODS  ON  A  CIRCUIT 


23 


Twenty-eight  Scouts  found  an  ideal  leader  in  their 
pastor,  who  teaches  them  scoutcraft  and  laws  of  health; 
and  who  camps  and  fishes  with  them  every  year  over  at 
Osage  Mills  by  the  creek. 

The  Ladies’  Aid  furnishes  one  good  reason  why  an  old 
resident  remarked:  “We  live  at  home  and  board  at  the  same 
place.”  The  ladies  make  doughnuts  and  dollars.  “They 
do  things  and  they  don’t  gossip,”  is  a  saying  in  Centerton. 

The  Epworth  League  is  well  organized,  and  in  addition 
to  its  religious  program  holds  monthly  socials.  Sometimes 
the  members  drive  out  four  or  five  miles  into  the  country 
for  meetings. 


THE  MAGIC  OF  NEIGHBORLINESS 

In  this  way  barriers  are  broken  down  and  people  forget 
whether  they  belong  to  town  or  country.  Country  homes 
are  ever  at  their  service  for  lawn  parties,  ice  cream  socials 
and  good  times  in  general. 

One  of  the  greatest  influences  for  tying  together  town 
and  country  interests  was  the  organization,  by  the  pastor’s 
wife,  of  a  Community  Mission  Society.  It  is  made  up  of  all 
women  interested  in  the  entire  parish  of  the  five  churches. 
Monthly  meetings  are  held  in  the  individual  neighborhoods 
and  union  quarterly  meetings  are  held  at  the  time  of  the 
Conference. 

A  neighborly  spirit  is  the  keynote  of  Mr.  Le  Roy’s 
services  both  in  Centerton,  the  base  of  the  operations,  and 
out  in  the  open  country.  For  a  time  he  alone  ministered 
to  the  entire  circuit ;  but  this  past  year  activities  at  Centerton 
have  made  it  necessary  for  an  assistant  pastor,  residing  in 
one  of  the  open  country  church  neighborhoods,  to  attend  to 
the  work  of  the  outlying  districts.  This  enables  Mr.  Le  Roy 
to  preach  at  one  open  country  church  once  a  month,  when 
he  exchanges  with  the  assistant,  and  each  of  the  churches 
can  hold  at  least  two  regular  services  a  month. 

From  time  to  time  the  country  congregations  go  over 
to  Centerton  to  service,  or  the  Centerton  people  attend  one 
of  the  country  churches.  They  get  acquainted;  and  pro- 


24 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


grams  carried  on  in  both  village  and  country  obtain  new 
life  from  the  exchange  of  ideas. 

Having  reorganized  the  churches,  Mr.  Le  Roy  deter¬ 
mined  to  set  them  on  a  firm  financial  basis.  A  regular 
budget  plan  was  introduced  and  the  first  annual  every- 
member  canvass  will  be  held  next  year.  The  church  sup¬ 
ports  the  Sunday  school  at  Centerton  in  the  belief  that  “to 
make  a  Sunday  school  support  itself  is  too  much  like  treat¬ 
ing  it  as  a  stepchild.” 

MUSIC  PLAYS  A  PART 

Emphasis  was  placed  upon  the  Sunday  schools.  Study 
groups  were  organized  and  suitable  books  were  studied  and 
reviewed.  Then  came  into  existence  the  famous  orchestra 
that  now  has  seventeen  members  and  is  in  constant  demand 
for  miles  around.  The  pastor  is  a  lover  of  music,  but  when 
he  suggested  the  organization  of  an  orchestra  many  of  the 
young  people  who  responded  could  not  read  the  notes  for 
any  instrument  and  had  no  choice  as  to  what  they  would 
play. 

That  orchestra  now  has  six  violins,  three  cornets,  a  saxo¬ 
phone,  which  is  played  by  the  pastor’s  daughter ;  a  clarinet, 
trombone,  tuba,  drum,  piano  and  two  ’cellos.  The  players 
are  not  only  learning  good  music  and  getting  enjoyment  out 
of  their  musical  education  but  are  giving  to  Centerton  and 
surrounding  communities  what  is  usually  so  badly  lacking 
in  the  average  rural  parish.  The  leader,  a  professional 
musician  of  wide  experience,  gives  each  member  two  pri¬ 
vate  lessons  a  month,  for  which  each  pays  $1.00  monthly. 
Weekly  rehearsals  are  as  eagerly  attended  as  any  social 
club  meetings  could  possibly  be. 

For  several  years  a  project  to  organize  a  singing  society 
had  failed.  In  1921,  under  the  leadership  of  a  former 
evangelist-singer,  new  interest  in  singing  began  to  grow, 
and  to-day  Centerton  has  a  chorus  of  fifty  voices.  A  girls’ 
quartette  and  two  or  three  men’s  quartettes  are  trained  and 
are  always  in  demand  at  community  functions. 

In  April,  1922,  after  a  successful  year  with  a  community 


centerton’s  “fight  fans”  watch  an  exhibition  bout  by  boys  of  the 

ATHLETIC  CLUB 


THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ORCHESTRA  OF  SEVENTEEN  PIECES 


MODERN  METHODS  ON  A  CIRCUIT 


25 


program,  a  cyclone  suddenly  hit  Centerton  and  destroyed 
the  church  building,  leaving  only  the  new  $75  cement  steps, 
a  recent  gift  of  the  Ladies’  Aid.  It  was  only  a  little  more 
than  a  month  later  that  the  leading  citizens  of  the  town 
completed  the  digging  of  the  new  basement  for  a  new  com¬ 
munity  church  building.  They  even  said  regarding  the 
storm:  “It  must  have  been  Providence,  for  we’ve  been 
needing  a  larger  building  for  years.”  Each  organization  was 
eager  to  do  its  bit  toward  the  new  church.  The  Ladies’  Aid 
chose  to  be  responsible  for  the  furnishing  of  the  basement. 
Mr.  Le  Roy  has  made  his  members  feel  that  they  have  a 
very  real  share  in  the  plans.  In  the  basement  there  are  club- 
rooms,  social  hall  and  kitchen.  The  main  auditorium,  seat¬ 
ing  225  people,  is  flanked  by  several  separate  Sunday  school 
rooms.  The  grounds  have  been  carefully  laid  out  so  that 
playgrounds  and  picnic  space  and  driveways  shall  all  have 
their  places.  While  the  new  building  has  been  under  con¬ 
struction,  services  have  been  held  in  the  high  school  building. 

COMMUNITY  PROGRAM  IDEA  SPREADS 

The  community  program  has  come  to  stay ;  and  the  coun¬ 
try  churches  on  the  circuit  have  been  encouraged  by  it  to 
plan  community  programs  of  their  own.  Oakley  Chapel  at 
Droke  is  raising  funds  to  build  a  new  basement  for  social 
purposes.  People  of  several  denominations  are  working 
together  in  this  Droke  church.  The  teacher  of  the  men’s 
class  is  a  Baptist.  Close  by  is  a  new,  modern  school  build¬ 
ing,  which,  together  with  the  church,  forms  a  real  progres¬ 
sive  community  center. 

At  Mount  Hebron  there  is  an  unusually  large  number  of 
young  people.  Twenty  girls  in  one  Sunday  school  class 
there  are  clamoring  for  club  activities  and  the  wife  of  the 
assistant  pastor  has  gone  to  the  rescue. 

At  Council  Grove  the  people  are  ready  to  take  hold  of 
anything  that  makes  for  the  good  of  the  community  and 
church.  They  attend  services  as  a  matter  of  course  and  it 
is  not  an  unusual  occurrence  for  the  church  to  be  crowded 
on  a  Sunday  morning.  The  Sunday  school  is  large,  with 


26 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


an  attendance  sometimes  of  seventy-five.  Daily  Bible  read¬ 
ing  is  stressed  in  many  homes  in  this  neighborhood. 

Throughout  the  circuit,  if  one  church  has  a  strawberry 
festival  or  other  gathering,  there  will  surely  be  found  there 
folks  from  all  the  other  four  points. 

The  program  of  the  community  church  covers  every 
part  of  Centerton’s  life.  The  results  of  the  past  year  show 
“a  cleaner  town,  a  better  understanding  among  the  people, 
more  people  doing  church  work,  more  family  altars  than 
ever  in  the  history  of  the  community,  and,  last  but  not 
least,  thirty  young  men  and  young  women  who  have  given 
their  lives  to  the  Master.”  Two  hundred  and  sixty-five 
people,  22  per  cent,  of  Centerton's  population,  are  members 
of  this  church;  the  total  enrollment  of  the  other  two  churches 
in  the  village  being  less  than  one-half  this  number.  The 
total  enrollment  of  the  entire  circuit  is  551.  Last  year  there 
were  altogether  fifty  additions  by  confession  of  faith,  while 
forty-seven  became  members  by  letter.  Fifty-one  adults  and 
two  infants  were  baptized. 

The  community  church  has  become  the  central  radiating 
force  of  Centerton.  It  has  grown  strong  in  giving  help  to 
others.  It  has,  in  fact,  outgrown  its  circuit;  and  hence¬ 
forth  will  be  an  independent  organization  with  a  full-time 
resident  pastor.  Perhaps  Oakley  Chapel  or  the  church  at 
Council  Grove  may  become  a  nucleus  for  the  building  of  a 
community  program.  Though  Centerton  has  outgrown  its 
circuit  it  has  not  outgrown  its  Gospel  of  Neighborliness ! 
The  friendship  of  town  and  country  has  been  permanently 
established;  and  through  it  five  churches  in  “the  apple 
orchard  of  America”  have  become  active,  progressive,  going 
organizations. 


Chapter  II 

A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 

THE  KIRKPATRICK  MEMORIAL  CHURCH  OF 

PARMA,  IDAHO 

A  conspicuous  example  of  a  denominational  community 
church  made  strong,  serviceable  and  self-supporting  by 
the  will  of  the  community. 

/ 

The  Kirkpatrick  Memorial  Community  Church  of  Parma, 
Idaho,  is  a  church  of  unusual  beginnings.  It  was  not  formed 
by  the  coming  together  of  a  number  of  different  organiza¬ 
tions,  nor  by  the  efforts  of  a  single  denominational  group  to 
widen  the  field  of  its  service,  but  developed  out  of  a  local 
community  impulse. 

The  settlers  of  Parma  were  forced,  almost  at  the  outset, 
into  a  cooperative  movement  essential  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  little  town  and  its  tributary  farmlands.  The  church  is 
an  expression  of  the  community  spirit  developed  by  that 
experience.  But  it  was  the  women  of  Parma,  not  the  men, 
who  really  carried  the  idea  of  cooperation  over  from  the 
economic  field  into  the  church. 

Parma  is  in  the  lower  end  of  the  Boise  Valley,  in  Canyon 
County,  about  four  miles  from  the  junction  of  the  Boise  and 
the  Snake  rivers.  This  part  of  the  country  was  settled 
first  by  miners  attracted  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the 
Boise  basin.  Not  satisfied  with  the  work  in  the  mines,  they 
began  to  settle  on  the  land  and  to  raise  hay  and  grain. 
Then  gradually  came  pioneers  from  the  east,  crossing  the 
plains  in  canvas  wagons  in  search  of  new  homes.  Among 
these  earliest  settlers  around  the  Parma  that  was  to  be  were 
broad-minded  men  and  women  who  wished  to  build  for  the 
future,  and  down  through  the  years  have  come  others  like 

27 


28 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


them.  The  result  is  the  Parma  of  to-day,  a  community 
which  has  accomplished  much  because  it  pulls  together. 

LESSONS  IN  COOPERATION 

Of  course,  irrigation,  without  which  no  land  in  Parma 
community  is  farmed,  gives  a  steady,  every-day  lesson  in 
cooperation.  The  early  settlements  were  all  in  a  narrow 
strip  along  the  river.  It  was  thought  that  the  higher  land 
and  hills  never  would  produce  anything  but  sagebrush. 
With  irrigation,  however,  came  development.  To-day,  the 
Farmers'  Cooperative  Ditch,  which  waters  most  of  the 
Parma  land,  is  one  of  the  best  managed  systems  of  irriga¬ 
tion  in  the  state,  because  the  directors  are  public-spirited 
men,  willing  to  give  of  their  time  without  stint. 

The  question  of  a  church  came  up  early  in  the  history 
of  the  community.  In  the  beginning  Parma  experienced 
various  denominational  trials:  Methodists,  Baptists,  Chris¬ 
tians,  Presbyterians  and  others,  all  tried  and  failed.  It 
was  the  usual  story.  Only  those  who  belonged  to  the  par¬ 
ticular  kind  of  a  church  making  the  struggle  would  be 
interested.  All  the  rest  were  on  the  side  lines  watching 
the  show.  An  attempt  was  made  at  least  to  keep  a  Sunday 
school  going,  but  there  were  long  stretches  of  time  when 
there  was  nothing  whatever  in  the  way  of  religious  ministry. 

At  last,  some  of  the  mothers  determined  to  have  a  con¬ 
tinuous  church  organization  and  a  regular  Sunday  school, 
and  they  invited  President  W.  J.  Boone,  of  the  College  of 
Idaho,  in  Caldwell,  to  come  down  and  help  them  establish 
a  permanent  church.  A  Presbyterian  church  was  organized 
on  the  seventh  day  of  May,  1899,  with  thirteen  members — 
eleven  women  and  two  men.  There  were  few,  if  any, 
Presbyterians  in  this  early  group,  and  perhaps  for  that 
very  reason  people  of  many  denominations  found  it  possible 
to  agree  on  this  church.  The  important  point  is,  however, 
that  from  the  very  first  there  was  a  vision  of  a  real  com¬ 
munity  church.  Here  was  a  group  of  people  willing  to 
sacrifice  their  denominational  connections  in  order  that 
the  community  might  have  a  church.  There  were  objections 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 


29 


to  a  union  church  because  there  would  be  no  church  board 
behind  it.  But  the  people  knew  that  they  needed  an  organi¬ 
zation  “broad  enough  to  get  away  from  denominationalism.” 

THE  FIRST  BUILDING 

The  next  problem  was  a  church  building.  In  the  fall  of 
that  year  a  call  was  issued  to  all  women  interested  in  the 
advancement  of  the  community  to  meet  and  consider,  first, 
the  ways  and  means  for  providing  a  home  for  the  new 
church  organization,  and,  secondly,  the  question  of  raising 
the  moral  standards  of  the  village.  With  the  coming  of 
the  railroad,  some  years  previously,  the  little  settlement  had 
developed  into  a  village,  with  the  drawbacks  that  usually 
accompany  the  mushroom  growth  of  a  frontier  community. 
A  saloon  had  been  started,  gambling  was  not  prohibited  and 
municipal  regulations  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 
The  community  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  lawless. 

Ten  women  became  the  charter  members  of  the  Amphic- 
tyonic  Council,  or  Council  of  Neighbors,  and  made  it  the 
center  of  cooperation  in  all  matters  concerning  the  general 
welfare  of  the  village.  The  campaign  for  a  church  building 
seemed  a  heavy  task  and  meant  earnest  effort  and  hard  work 
for  so  small  a  company,  but  the  women  were  all  enthusiastic 
and  it  was  they  who  did  most  of  the  soliciting.  A  general 
merchandise  store  had  been  started  in  1898,  and  traveling  men 
were  beginning  to  come  in  with  goods  to  sell.  When  these 
salesmen  received  an  order,  the  storekeeper  would  tell  them 
of  the  work  for  a  new  church  and  usually  a  donation  was 
forthcoming.  Winter  was  coming  on.  The  women  realized 
that  they  would  need  a  stove  in  their  new  building  when  it 
was  completed  and  appealed  to  a  hardware  firm  in  Boise. 
Not  only  did  the  firm  send  them  a  stove,  but  with  it  a  note 
praising  the  grit  of  a  little  place  the  size  of  Parma  in  start¬ 
ing  a  church.  There  were  discouragements  naturally,  but 
in  due  time  and  with  some  help  from  the  mission  board, 
the  church  was  finished  and  dedicated  without  a  dollar  of 
indebtedness. 

The  real  growth  of  the  village  began  in  1900,  with  an 


30 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


influx  of  people  from  the  middle  west  and  the  east,  the 
greater  proportion  coming  from  Illinois.  One  man,  in 
particular,  a  former  resident  of  Illinois,  believed  in  the 
church  idea.  Previous  to  their  starting,  he  said  to  the 
cousin  who  had  interested  him  in  going  west:  “Before  we 
go  out  to  Idaho  to  help  develop  that  country,  I  want  a 
distinct  understanding  that  we  join  the  church  and  boost 
that  too.  I  do  not  want  to  raise  my  children  without  a 
good  church.  We  all  want  to  get  in  and  help/’  That  man 
is  now  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Idaho.  The  next  February, 
eighteen  newcomers,  representing  a  number  of  different  de¬ 
nominations,  joined  the  church,  which  thus  received  a  great 
impetus. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  SELF-SUPPORT 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  no  resident  pastor.  There 
was  preaching  once  a  week,  on  Sunday  night,  and  the 
members  paid  $100  a  year  towards  the  pastor’s  support. 
Owing  to  its  inability  to  afford  a  pastor  of  its  own,  the 
church  had  been  grouped  first  with  the  Tucker  and  later 
with  the  Roswell  church.  It  was  felt,  however,  that  the 
church  needed  a  preacher  who  would  live  in  the  community, 
and  by  “raking  and  scraping  and  planning,”  as  one  who 
joined  at  that  time  described  it,  the  members  finally  got 
$900  pledged  for  a  full-time  minister.  At  the  same  time 
the  church  became  self-supporting,  relinquishing  the  home 
mission  aid  it  had  previously  received. 

The  people  of  Parma,  as  has  been  seen,  had  wanted  a 
community  church  from  the  first  and  the  realization  of  their 
ideal  was  finally  made  possible  by  the  generosity  of  a  Mrs. 
Kirkpatrick  who,  after  the  war,  offered  $20,000  towards  a 
new  building.  It  was  agreed,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Rev.  Paul  Gauss,  who  had  come  to  the  pastorate  in  1917, 
that  the  new  church  should  be  more  than  ever  a  real  com¬ 
munity  church,  though  still  retaining  its  Presbyterian  alle¬ 
giance.  The  pastor  pointed  out  that  if  the  community  idea 
was  to  be  carried  out,  the  members  of  the  United  Presby¬ 
terian  Church,  which  had  been  started  some  years  previ- 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 


31 


ously,  must  be  invited  to  join.  The  situation  was  not  with¬ 
out  delicacy,  but  all  difficulties  were  tactfully  overcome, 
most  of  the  members  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
were  transferred  to  the  new  community  church  and  all  of 
the  elders  of  the  smaller  organization  who  joined  the  larger 
received  similar  office.  The  new  church  plant,  including 
a  community  house,  was  completed  and  dedicated  on  October 
31,  1920,  and  in  the  two  years  following  this  dedication  the 
number  of  members  nearly  doubled. 

A  VILLAGE  CHURCH  PLANNED  TO  MEET  VILLAGE  NEEDS 

This  is  indeed  a  church  of  the  open  door,  for  any  organi¬ 
zation  or  individual  can  use  any  part  of  the  church  or  com¬ 
munity  house  without  charge.  It  is  a  quiet,  practical  place 
of  service.  The  substantial  church  building  is  of  white 
brick  and  stone,  with  stained  glass  windows.  The  Sunday 
school  assembly  room  is  in  the  basement.  Here  also  are 
classrooms  which  can  all  be  thrown  open,  making,  with  the 
assembly  room,  a  dining-room  large  enough  to  seat  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  people.  The  kitchen,  in  the  fur¬ 
nishing  of  which  all  the  women’s  organizations  in  the  church 
helped,  is  equipped  with  everything  a  kitchen  should  have — 
electric  range,  tables,  shelves,  cabinets,  sink  and  a  water 
heater.  Six  dozen  of  everything  needed  for  serving  meals 
and  refreshments  are  stowed  away  in  its  drawers  and 
shelves. 

There  are  classrooms  in  the  gallery  of  the  main  audi¬ 
torium  and  in  the  space  beneath,  making,  with  those  in  the 
basement,  sixteen  in  all.  The  restful  tan  and  brown  audi¬ 
torium  upstairs  seats  two  hundred,  but  with  the  gallery  and 
the  classrooms  below  the  gallery,  seats  may  be  placed  for 
six  hundred.  All  large  gatherings  such  as  farm  meetings, 
the  Lyceum  lecture  courses  and  the  Chautauqua,  are  held 
in  the  church  building,  the  community  house  filling  other 
needs.  Probably  the  most  unusual  feature  of  this  church 
is  its  baptistry,  the  very  presence  of  which  in  a  nominally 
Presbyterian  church  indicates  the  wide  hospitality  that  is 
offered.  The  architect  was  opposed  to  this  being  put  in, 


32 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


but  the  pastor  and  the  building  committee  were  convinced 
of  the  very  real  need  for  it,  for  this  is  a  church  not  simply 
of  Presbyterians. 

The  church  equipment  includes  a  stereopticon  and  re- 
flectoscope,  but  not  a  moving-picture  machine.  The  pastor 
has  an  unwritten  agreement  with  the  local  movie  magnate 
that,  so  long  as  he  does  not  run  pictures  on  Sunday  night 
and  leaves  poor  pictures  alone,  the  church  will  not  compete 
with  him.  This  is  not  an  agreement  that  the  church  will 
not  buy  a  moving-picture  machine,  but  only  that  it  will  not 
run  pictures  on  regular  show  nights.  The  result  of  the 
agreement  is  clean  movies  in  Parma,  and  a  dark  moving- 
picture  house  on  Sunday  nights. 

The  tan-colored  community  house  stands  beside  the 
church,  a  well-kept  lawn  and  hedge  between  them.  Behind 
are  two  graveled  tennis  courts.  In  the  basement  of  this 
building,  which  measures  thirty-eight  feet  by  sixty  feet,  is 
the  gymnasium,  which  has  a  basketball  floor,  handball  court,, 
bowling  alley  and  balcony.  The  gymnasium  is  used  by 
young  and  old,  high  school  and  graded  school,  Boy  Scouts 
and  Camp  Fire  Girls,  and  is  kept  in  order  for  constant  use. 
It  has  gymnasium  mats  and  horse,  basketball,  volley-ball  and 
bowling-alley  equipment.  There  are  shower  baths  for  men 
and  boys  across  the  hall  and  for  girls  upstairs.  On  the  land¬ 
ing  going  upstairs  is  a  glass-enclosed  cabinet  where  the  out¬ 
side  “jackets”  of  new  books  in  the  library  are  posted.  Up¬ 
stairs,  a  number  of  rooms  open  from  a  central  hall,  one  of 
which  is  the  girls’  clubroom,  cozily  furnished  with  leather 
couch,  wicker  chairs  and  a  blue  and  brown  rug. 

There  is  a  pleasant  room  where  boys  play  checkers  and 
other  games  by  the  hour  on  long  winter  evenings.  A  small 
assembly  room  is  nominally  the  “Friendly  Men’s  Room,” 
but  other  organizations  may  use  it,  commercial,  civic,  in¬ 
spirational,  educational  and  philanthropic  meetings  of  every 
kind  being  held  there.  The  Lettuce  Growers’  Association 
even  “slipped  over”  a  meeting  in  this  room  one  Sunday 
afternoon.  The  public  library  of  the  village,  which  was 
started  in  an  early  day  by  the  Amphictyonic  Council,  has 
its  home  in  the  community  house,  the  village  paying  a  small 


BOY  SCOUTS  OF  THE  PARMA  TROOP 


ABOUT  TO  START  ON  A  CAMPING  TRIP 


' 


\ 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 


33 


rent.  Next  to  the  library  is  the  Radio  room,  where  every 
night  an  absorbed  audience  of  boys,  members  of  the  Radio 
Sunday  School  Class  and  their  buddies,  gather  to  “listen 
in.”  Lastly,  there  is  the  pastor’s  study  and  office,  undoubt¬ 
edly  the  busiest  room  of  all.  The  community  house  is  the 
one  common  meeting  place  in  Parma.  Open  every  day  in 
the  week,  it  is  the  center  of  the  life  of  the  village,  thirty- 
five  thousand  visitors  passing  through  its  door  annually. 

The  land  owned  by  the  church  is  valued  at  $2,300,  the 
church  building  at  $34,000  and  the  community  building  at 
$17,000.  The  pleasant  bungalow  manse  is  valued  at  $3,000. 
There  is  a  $15,000  church  debt  to  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Church  Erection  on  which  4  per  cent,  interest  is  paid, 
and  a  certain  amount  of  which  is  paid  off  every  year.  A 
total  amount  of  $32,000  insurance  is  carried — $7,500  on  the 
community  building  and  $24,000  on  the  church. 

HOW  THE  BILLS  ARE  PAID 

The  church  is  supported  by  practically  the  entire  com¬ 
munity,  the  whole  project  being  financed  by  an  annual  com¬ 
munity  canvass.  No  money-making  schemes,  such  as 
bazaars  or  socials  with  a  price  attached,  are  employed,  nor 
is  a  charge  made  for  any  meetings  held  in  the  church.  That 
is  against  the  policy  of  the  church.  Everything  is  covered 
by  the  budget.  It  is  even  the  ideal  of  the  church  to  include 
the  entire  expense  of  the  Sunday  school  in  the  church 
budget,  so  that  the  Sunday  school  may  give  all  the  money 
it  raises  to  benevolences. 

A  definite  time  is  set  apart  in  the  program  of  the  year 
for  the  budget  drive.  The  three  boards  of  the  church, 
Session,  Trustees  and  Deacons,  meet  and  formulate  budgets 
of  local  expense  and  of  benevolence.  The  former  contains 
the  following  items:  pastor’s  salary,  janitor’s  salary,  fuel, 
light,  Sunday  school,  telephone,  printing,  choir  leader  and 
music,  manse  note,  insurance,  buildings,  upkeep,  water  and 
miscellaneous. 

A  special  Sunday  is  appointed  for  the  budget  drive. 
Preparatory  work  is  done  from  the  pulpit  for  several  Sun- 


S4> 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


days  beforehand,  and  people  are  informed  as  to  the  date  of 
the  canvass  through  a  letter  to  them  during  the  week  pre¬ 
ceding,  a  card  being  enclosed  presenting  the  amounts  needed. 
Last  year  an  advertisement  on  “What  the  Budget  Means” 
appeared  in  the  Parma  Review  the  week  before  the  canvass 
and  was  then  printed  separately  and  handed  out  at  church 
services. 

The  budget  is  presented  to  the  congregation  publicly  on 
the  Sunday  morning  of  the  canvass.  No  one  is  solicited  at 
that  or  any  other  service.  The  people  who  are  to  make 
the  canvass,  about  thirty-five  in  all,  meet  at  two  o’clock 
that  afternoon.  The  details  of  the  work  are  explained  to 
them  and  any  special  matters  pertaining  to  the  solicitation. 
They  then  go  out  in  teams  of  two,  with  pledge  cards  on 
which  is  printed  “This  pledge  is  purely  voluntary  and  may 
be  recalled  at  any  time  by  giving  notice.”  The  village  and 
the  surrounding  country  directly  tributary  to  Parma  and 
included  in  Parma  community  are  divided  into  districts  for 
this  “every  resident”  community  canvass.  No  family  is 
passed  by  unless  it  is  helping  to  support  one  of  the  two  other 
churches  in  the  village — the  Catholic,  which  has  seventy- 
five  members,  or  the  Nazarene  with  nineteen  resident  mem¬ 
bers,  or  one  of  the  three  small  country  churches  in  the  area 
tributary  to  Parma.  Every  one  else  is  seen.  The  can¬ 
vassers  explain  that  the  budget  covers  the  entire  work  of 
the  church — salaries,  incidental  expenses  and  community 
house  operating  expenses  for  the  coming  year,  as  well  as 
benevolences;  and  that  if  the  budget  is  raised,  no  further 
appeals  for  any  of  this  work  will  be  made  through  the  year. 
They  also  explain  that  the  church  treasurer  will  remit 
benevolence  money  to  any  denominational  board  desired. 

MEMBERSHIP - DIVERSIFIED  BUT  UNITED 

The  membership  of  the  Parma  Church  is  significant  of 
the  breadth  of  its  appeal.  Among  the  four  hundred  and 
fifteen  members  are  to  be  found  representatives  of  sixteen 
different  denominations  or  sects :  Methodist,  Lutheran, 
Christian,  Baptist,  Congregational,  Dutch  Reformed,  United 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 


35 


Brethren,  Episcopal,  Church  of  the  Brethren,  Nazarenes, 
Church  of  England,  Presbyterian,  United  Presbyterian,  Sal¬ 
vation  Army,  Catholic  and  Mormon.  The  ideal  of  the 
pastor  is  to  make  all  Protestants  feel,  when  they  join  this 
community  church  that  they  are  not  becoming  Presby¬ 
terians;  they  are  retaining  whatever  denominational  alle¬ 
giance  they  may  have  professed  in  the  past,  or  may  revert 
to  in  the  future,  but  for  the  time  being,  so  long  as  they 
are  living  in  Parma,  they  are  members  of  a  church  that  is 
doing  the  work  of  the  Kingdom  in  that  community.  The 
way  the  pastor  put  the  matter  to  a  Disciple  who  joined 
the  church  was  that  he  wanted  the  man’s  membership  not 
to  make  him  a  Presbyterian  but  to  make  him  a  better  Dis¬ 
ciple,  and  that  he  would  feel  disappointed  if,  when  at  any 
time  he  left  Parma  and  went  to  a  place  where  he  found  a 
Christian  church,  he  failed  to  join  it. 

This  fellowship  in  the  Parma  church  of  men  and  women 
of  all  denominations  is  made  possible  because  the  emphasis 
is  placed  upon  those  things  which  all  have  in  common,  while 
special  denominational  beliefs  are  kept  in  the  background. 
“There  is,”  the  pastor  declared,  “enough  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  universally  accepted  to  make  a  vital  appeal.  The 
minister  who  tries  to  ride  theological  hobbies  will  not  be  a 
success  in  a  small  town  community  church.  The  moment 
you  get  a  man  with  a  hobby  you  will  find  some  one  in  the 
audience  to  disagree  with  him.  I  don’t  believe,  for  in¬ 
stance,  that  a  dozen  people  in  this  community  know  whether 
I  am  a  fundamentalist  or  not.  I  don’t  preach  special  doc¬ 
trines  but  I  do  preach  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  well  as  I 
know  how.”  The  Parma  church,  however,  goes  farther  than 
mere  avoidance  of  possible  points  of  difference.  It  en¬ 
deavors  in  a  positive  manner  to  make  members  of  different 
denominations  feel  as  much  at  home  as  possible.  Thus,  as 
has  been  seen,  for  the  sake  of  its  immersionist  members  a 
baptistry  was  installed  at  considerable  expense;  for  mem¬ 
bers  of  liturgical  denominations  there  is  a  greater  frequency 
of  communion  than  is  usual  in  most  Presbyterian  churches, 
while  various  types  of  prayer  meetings  are  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  various  groups  of  members. 


36 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


A  more  detailed  analysis  of  the  membership  only  em¬ 
phasizes  the  wide  appeal  of  this  church.  Here  is  no  marked 
disproportion  between  the  sexes,  since  men  make  up  44  per 
cent,  of  the  total  membership.  Nor,  as  is  so  frequently 
found,  is  the  membership  overweighted  with  older  age 
groups.  Here  one-fourth  of  the  members  are  less  than 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  Again,  the  common  distinction  be¬ 
tween  active  and  inactive  members  is  hardly  applicable  here. 
Of  the  three  hundred  and  forty-nine  resident  members  all 
but  seventeen  take  an  active  part  in  the  church  life  and  work. 
The  wide  reach  of  the  church  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
forty-seven  of  its  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  member- 
families  live  more  than  one  mile  distant. 

Results  like  these  are  not  brought  about  by  accident. 
The  membership  is  carefully  shepherded  according  to  defi¬ 
nite  plan.  The  church  parish  is  divided  into  nineteen  sepa¬ 
rate  groups  and  each  group  has  its  leader.  Twice  a  year 
these  group  leaders  make  a  survey  of  the  entire  community, 
getting  a  record  of  each  person’s  church  interest.  A  card 
is  made  out  and  kept  up  to  date  for  each  family  in  the 
community.  The  group  leaders  keep  in  personal  touch  with 
the  people  in  their  respective  groups  by  calling  frequently 
and  by  inviting  them  to  all  special  meetings.  If  they  hear 
any  complaints  by  members,  whether  trivial  or  otherwise, 
they  report  them  at  once  so  that  the  matter  may  be  fol¬ 
lowed  up  and  adjusted  immediately. 

SYSTEMATIC  EVANGELISM 

Evangelism  is  carried  on  quietly,  but  with  enthusiasm. 
The  church  members  make  it  a  definite  responsibility  of 
their  own  to  bring  in  those  who  are  not  in  the  church. 
A  farmer,  approaching  middle  age,  joined  the  church  last 
year.  His  family  were  church  members  but  he  had  never 
joined.  He  was  brought  into  the  church  simply  by  a  group 
of  men  seeing  him  often,  explaining  what  the  church  and 
their  belief  meant  to  them,  telling  him  why  they  felt  a  man 
should  get  into  the  church,  showing  him  he  was  wanted. 

Evangelistic  meetings  are  never  held  more  frequently  than 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 


37 


once  a  year,  nor  for  twelve  years  has  any  outside  help  been 
called  in.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  to  this  church  the  better 
plan  to  manage  and  carry  on  its  own  meetings.  Too  often 
sensationalism  is  the  dominant  note  struck  by  an  evangelist 
imported  from  the  outside.  Evangelism  in  Parma,  the 
members  feel,  is  their  own  job.  The  people  to  be  brought 
into  the  church  are  their  own  friends  and  neighbors.  Why 
send  for  a  stranger  to  reason  with  them?  Careful  prepara¬ 
tion  precedes  the  meetings.  The  matter  is  presented  to  the 
congregation,  dates  are  announced  and  people  are  asked  to 
keep  that  period  free.  On  Sunday  evenings  from  January 
to  Easter,  the  service  is  made  particularly  evangelistic  and 
invitation  is  given  to  those  who  are  willing  to  make  a  new 
stand  for  Jesus  Christ.  Each  Sunday  evening  those  who 
made  their  declaration  the  week  before  are  received  into 
church  membership,  and  there  is  constant  opportunity  for 
reconsecration  of  those  that  are  already  members.  A  letter 
concerning  these  meetings,  containing  practical  suggestions 
as  to  how  each  individual  can  contribute  to  their  success,  is 
sent  out  early  in  January. 

The  regular  series  of  meetings  comes  the  last  two  weeks 
in  March.  They  are  well  advertised  by  paid  advertise¬ 
ments,  pamphlets,  bulletin  boards  and  personal  invitations. 
“The  Life  and  Purpose  of  the  Church”  was  the  general  topic 
at  a  recent  series  of  meetings.  The  pastor  did  the  preach¬ 
ing.  The  choir  leader  led  the  singing.  The  group  leaders 
gave  the  general  invitation.  Personal  work  was  carried  on 
through  the  period  of  meetings  by  a  special  Personal  Work 
Committee,  which  received  a  list  of  names  from  the  pastor, 
talked  privately  with  each  person  quietly,  and  then  reported 
back  to  the  pastor,  leaving  him  to  complete  the  work.  These 
meetings  are  well  conducted  and  accomplish  much.  But  the 
real  secret  of  the  success  of  this  church  in  winning  new 
members  is  that  evangelism  is  looked  upon  by  the  members 
and  the  pastor  as  an  “every-day”  rather  than  as  a  “once- 
a-year”  job. 


38 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


REGULAR  RELIGIOUS  MINISTRY 

The  work  of  the  church  can  be  grouped  almost  entirely 
under  four  heads  which  are  keynotes  in  its  program.  These 
are  Evangelization,  Social  Service,  Missionary  Work,  and 
Religious  Education.  The  Community  House  has  its  place 
under  two  heads  of  this  program — chiefly  under  Social 
Service,  of  which  the  large  end  is  recreation,  but  also  under 
Religious  Education. 

The  morning  and  evening  services  held  each  Sunday  have 
an  average  attendance  respectively  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
and  one  hundred  and  seventy-five.  From  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  were  attending  in  the  evening  when  Mr.  Gauss  came. 
He  has  brought  the  average  attendance  up  to  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  by  emphasizing  that  service  and  by  adver¬ 
tising  his  themes.  Thirty  per  cent,  of  the  morning  audi¬ 
ence  are  men ;  40  per  cent,  at  night  are  men.  Women  make 
up  40  per  cent,  of  the  attendance  at  both  services.  In  the 
morning,  15  per  cent,  of  the  audience  are  young  people; 
at  night,  20  per  cent.  Children  make  up  15  per  cent,  of  the 
morning  audience,  and  for  their  benefit  there  is  a  children’s 
sermon.  Ten  per  cent,  of  the  audience  in  the  morning  and 
20  per  cent,  at  night  are  non-church  members. 

Bible  school  comes  at  ten  o’clock,  before  the  morning 
service,  and  is  so  well  attended  that  the  classes  overflow  into 
the  community  house.  Music  is  furnished  by  the  regular 
Sunday  school  orchestra,  and  the  singing  is  enthusiastic. 
Out  of  a  total  enrollment  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-five, 
the  average  attendance  is  two  hundred  and  twelve.  Eleven 
of  the  nineteen  classes  are  organized,  and  every  class  has 
a  separate  meeting  place.  Thirty-five  names  are  on  the 
Cradle  Roll,  and  forty  on  that  of  the  Home  Department, 
which  was  started  fourteen  years  ago  with  three  members. 

Regular  teachers’  meetings  are  held  once  a  month,  and 
the  course  for  the  Teachers’  Training  Class  is  varied  from 
year  to  year  to  avoid  monotony.  This  year’s  plan  embraces 
a  series  of  six  teachers’  conferences  at  which  outside 
speakers  talk  along  special  lines,  a  discussion  following. 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION  39 

These  six  conferences  come  after  a  supper  for  the  teachers 
on  Wednesday  nights. 

A  Vacation  Bible  School  with  six  classes  was  held  last 
summer  for  the  first  time,  general  invitation  being  extended 
to  all  the  children  in  the  village.  The  course  included  Bible 
instruction  and  craft  work,  and  at  the  end  of  it  came  “com¬ 
mencement,”  with  a  demonstration  of  the  work  done,  fol¬ 
lowed  by  a  picnic  the  next  day.  Fifty-two  children  remained 
throughout  the  two  weeks. 

Two  classes  of  the  Bible  school  stand  out  as  distinct 
organizations  of  the  church.  The  Loyal  Sisters’  Bible  Class 
of  seventy-two  members  does  the  work  of  a  Ladies’  Aid 
Society,  and  the  Friendly  Men’s  class  of  sixty-five  occupies 
the  place  of  a  Brotherhood.  Both  of  these  organizations 
have  regular  class  sessions  every  Sunday  and  a  business 
meeting  once  a  month. 

Two  nights  in  the  week,  the  Friendly  Men’s  Room  in  the 
Community  House  is  reserved  for  choir  practice.  The 
church  music  is  taken  care  of  by  a  regular  paid  choir  leader. 
Here  again  the  church  and  the  school  and  the  village  work 
together.  The  choir  leader  who  has  been  there  nine  years 
is  also  the  music  director  of  the  village  schools  and  of  sev¬ 
eral  country  schools. 

All  church  meetings  and  events  are  well  advertised.  The 
church  believes  in  letting  every  one  know  everything  that  is 
going  on.  The  publicity  is  conducted  on  a  sort  of  give  and 
take  plan.  Mr.  Gauss  will  write  up  a  wedding  for  the 
editor  and  the  editor,  in  turn,  will  give  him  space  for  pub¬ 
licity.  At  one  time,  Mr.  Gauss  carried  on  the  paper  for 
six  weeks  while  the  editor  was  away.  Letters  and  postals 
are  used  for  anouncements  of  special  meetings  and  special 
issues  before  the  church.  Paid  advertisements  are  often  put 
in  the  paper.  Other  advertising  devices  are  bulletin  boards, 
big  charts,  window  cards  and  dodgers.  One  Sunday  night  a 
month  is  “request  service,”  a  request  being  made  for  sug¬ 
gestions  of  definite  themes  for  that  night. 


40 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


ORGANIZATIONS  ON  THE  JOB 

Outside  of  the  Sunday  school,  there  are  eleven  church 
organizations  with  a  total  enrollment  of  three  hundred  and 
seventy-three.  One  hundred  and  fifty-six  of  the  members 
are  women  over  eighteen.  The  rest  are  under  that  age; 
one  hundred  and  six  being  boys  and  one  hundred  and  eleven 
girls.  About  one-third  of  the  total  number  live  in  the  coun¬ 
try.  The  church  is  not  overorganized.  There  is  a  place 
for  every  one.  But  no  organization  is  allowed  to  function 
after  it  has  outlived  its  usefulness. 

The  total  receipts  of  the  organizations  amounted  to 
$1,042.43  last  year;  the  total  expenditures  were  $1,008.15. 
A  total  of  $465.20  was  devoted  to  missions  (including  mis¬ 
sion  study  books)  and  $176.60  to  other  benevolences  and 
for  local  charity. 

All  of  the  organizations  have  their  various  committees. 
One  of  the  most  helpful  things  in  the  working  of  these 
organizations  is  the  plan  of  “sponsoring,”  by  which  each 
older  organization  “sponsors”  a  younger  one.  The  Ladies’ 
Missionary  Society,  for  example,  “sponsors”  the  Senior 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  because  last  year  the  young 
people  had  a  hard  time  collecting  money  for  refreshments, 
the  women  are  now  providing  the  refreshments  for  their 
socials.  The  plan  of  sponsoring  is  helpful  to  both  parties : 
it  steadies  the  younger  organizations  and  it  brings  the  older 
groups  into  contact  with  the  younger. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  Parma  has  been  unusually  for¬ 
tunate  in  her  pastors.  Mr.  Gauss’  predecessor,  Mr.  Griffin, 
made  a  notable  record  during  the  six  years  of  his  pastorate 
in  organizing  and  developing  the  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the 
church.  Mr.  Gauss  has  carried  on  and  amplified  the  work 
so  ably  begun,  infusing  it  with  the  spirit  of  his  own  en¬ 
thusiasm.  Nevertheless,  the  feature  that  calls  for  most 
emphasis  in  the  Kirkpatrick  Memorial  Church  of  Parma  is 
that  it  is  in  no  sense  a  “one-man”  enterprise.  No  rural 
church  is  better  adapted  to  profit  from  the  energy  and  en¬ 
thusiasm  of  its  pastor,  but  the  driving  force  behind  the 
church  is  the  community  itself  and  the  cooperative  spirit 


A  CASE  OF  SELF-DETERMINATION 


41 


which  has  developed  in  the  community.  The  people  of 
Parma,  as  this  story  has  shown,  knew  precisely  the  kind  of 
church  that  they  wanted  and  they  did  not  rest  until  they 
got  it.  They  know  also  precisely  the  kind  of  pastor  that 
they  want,  and  they  would  be  satisfied  with  no  man  who  fell 
short  of  their  standard.  For  these  reasons  the  church  at 
Parma  may  perhaps  be  best  described  as  the  outstanding 
instance  in  rural  America  of  a  community’s  self-determina¬ 
tion  in  its  religious  affairs. 


i 


Chapter  III 

MUCH  IN  LITTLE 
CANOGA,  N.  Y. 

Proof  positive  that  even  in  a  small  community,  which  can 
never  grow  larger,  the  church  can  yet  grow  in  service . 

The  little  hamlet  of  Canoga,  in  Seneca  County,  New 
York,  is  picturesquely  situated  on  the  northwestern  point 
of  Cayuga  Lake.  It  is  a  small  agricultural  community  of 
about  four  hundred  souls,  with  twenty-five  families  living 
in  as  many  homes  built  about  its  only  street.  Its  public 
buildings  comprise  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Town  Hall, 
the  District  School  and  the  Community  House.  The  name 
Canoga,  or  “Sweet  Water/’  is  derived  from  the  spring  just 
outside  the  hamlet,  where  Iroquois  Indians  used  to  camp, 
and  near  by  stands  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Red 
Jacket,  a  Seneca  chief  famous  in  Revolutionary  days.  Soon 
after  the  Revolution  settlers  started  coming  from  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  grad¬ 
ually  displacing  the  Indians  who  had  formerly  cultivated 
the  region,  and  by  the  late  ’fifties  of  the  last  century  the 
white  men  had  developed  a  prosperous  farming  community. 

That,  in  brief,  is  the  whole  story  of  Canoga,  and  in  the 
past  sixty  or  seventy  years  there  has  been  little  to  add  to 
it.  The  industrial  development,  through  railroads  and  a 
canal,  of  Seneca  Falls,  seven  miles  away,  effectually  ar¬ 
rested  the  growth  of  its  smaller  neighbor.  Canoga  re¬ 
mains  to-day  what  it  has  always  been — a  little  hamlet  en¬ 
tirely  engrossed  in  agriculture.  The  march  of  progress 
seems  to  have  passed  it  by;  its  farmers  go  to  Seneca  Falls 
to  do  their  trading ;  its  population  has  declined  and  is  likely 

to  grow  smaller  rather  than  larger ;  the  best  it  can  hope  for 

42 


MUCH  IN  LITTLE 


43 


is  a  continuation  of  its  present  modest  competence  as  a 
farming  community. 

% 

THE  DILEMMA  OF  THE  SMALL  CHURCH 

There  was  a  time,  before  the  industrial  revolution,  which 
exalted  Seneca  Falls  and  depressed  Canoga,  when  the  little 
hamlet  supported  two  churches,  a  Methodist  and  a  Pres¬ 
byterian;  but  by  1919  all  that  was  left  of  the  former  were 
some  ruins  blackened  by  fire,  while  the  latter  stood  bleak, 
unpainted  and  almost  forgotten  by  its  congregation. 
Canoga,  in  fact,  presents  in  rather  an  acute  form  a  re¬ 
ligious  problem  that  is  a  commonplace  of  rural  America. 
Here  was  a  little  place,  apparently  too  small  to  support  a 
church  with  a  full-time  minister,  and  with  no  hope  of  in¬ 
creased  population.  What  could  it  do  about  its  spiritual 
life? 

There  are  two  obvious  answers  to  that  constantly  re¬ 
curring  question.  One  is  a  circuit  or  a  student  ministry, 
perhaps  assisted  by  a  minimum  amount  of  aid  from  the 
home  mission  board;  the  other  is  home  mission  aid  suffi¬ 
cient  to  make  possible  a  full-time  minister.  Canoga,  for 
some  years,  had  chosen,  rather  half-heartedly,  the  former 
answer.  Since  1825,  thirty-one  ministers  had  served  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  only  five  of  them  had  been  in¬ 
stalled  or  ordained.  Of  late  years  students  from  Auburn 
Seminary  had  conducted  services  at  irregular  intervals,  this 
spasmodic  ministry  being  partially  supported  by  an  annual 
grant  of  $100  from  the  home  mission  board.  Beyond  the 
privileges  of  irregular  Sunday  worship,  the  church  had  no 
organization,  nor  had  it  any  regular  budget  for  main¬ 
tenance.  For  the  year  1917-18  the  total  contributions  for 
benevolences  amounted  to  sixteen  dollars,  while  $200  was 
raised  by  the  church  membership  to  pay  for  the  irregular 
services  of  its  student-pastors. 

It  was  a  discouraging  situation,  and  it  was  hardly  sur¬ 
prising  that  the  two  dozen  members  listlessly  regarded  a 
full-time  ministry  for  their  church  as  a  possibility  too  re¬ 
mote  to  be  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  They  may  have 


44 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


hoped  one  day  to  be  able  to  supply  their  church  not  only 
with  the  coat  of  paint  it  so  sorely  needed  but  also  with 
a  cellar  and  a  furnace,  which  would  have  added  considerably 
to  the  attractions  of  the  occasional  winter  services ;  but  for 
a  resident,  full-time  minister  it  is  safe  to  say  they  had 
never  even  dared  to  hope.  The  privilege  of  instilling  this 
hope  into  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Canoga  was  reserved 
for  the  last  of  the  long  line  of  student-pastors. 

A  FULL-TIME  PASTOR 

During  the  summer  that  he  served  as  the  incumbent  of 
Canoga  church,  young  Howard  Mickelsen,  a  student  of 
Auburn  Seminary,  became  interested  in  the  place  and  the 
people.  A  farmer’s  son  himself,  he  loved  the  land  and  knew 
the  way  to  the  hearts  of  an  agricultural  community.  To  his 
enthusiasm  there  seemed  nothing  strange  or  impossible  in 
the  idea  of  this  picturesque  little  hamlet,  with  its  four  hun¬ 
dred  souls  and  its  historic  past,  being  ministered  to  by  a 
permanent,  resident  pastor.  Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of 
1919,  Mr.  Mickelsen,  having  graduated  and  married,  went 
to  the  home  mission  board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
asked  for  a  grant  which  should  make  it  possible  for  him  to 
undertake  the  pastorate  of  the  church  at  Canoga.  The 
board  granted  $400,  and  young  Mickelsen  took  up  the  work 
that  he  had  chosen. 

In  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Mickelsen’s  full-time  pastorate 
the  thirty-six  members  of  the  church  raised  $600  or  $16.66 
per  capita.  During  1920-21  the  membership  increased  to 
forty-three  and  the  budget  to  $800  or  $18.37  per  capita. 
During  1921-22  the  membership  climbed  to  seventy-five  and 
the  budget  to  $1,365  or  $18.20  per  capita.  Canoga  doubled 
its  contribution  by  doubling  its  membership.  While  in  1921 
it  contributed  $1,365  against  $800  of  the  preceding  year, 
yet  the  per  capita  share  was  seventeen  cents  less  in  1921.  In 
other  words,  while  it  is  a  poor  community  and  has  no  pros¬ 
pect  of  becoming  richer,  yet  it  increased  its  budget  by  in¬ 
creasing  its  membership  and  thereby  reduced  the  average  per 
capita  contribution. 


THE  BOY  SCOUT  FLOAT  AT  CANOGA’s  FOURTH  OF  JULY  CELEBRATION 


THE  LITTLE  COMMUNITY,  UNDER  THE  LEADERSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH,  SUPPORTS 
A  FLOURISHING  DRAMATIC  ASSOCIATION 


I 


MUCH  IN  LITTLE 


45 


When  the  pastor  first  laid  the  budget  of  $600  before  the 
church  in  1919,  his  tiny  congregation  said:  “It  can’t  be 
done.”  With  preliminary  training  in  the  duties  of  stew¬ 
ardship,  however,  the  congregation  was  prepared  for  the 
every-member  canvass,  and  before  the  day  of  the  canvass 
one-fourth  of  the  church  membership  had  signed  steward¬ 
ship  cards.  Then,  one  Sunday  morning,  Canoga  was  sur¬ 
prised  to  find  that  it  had  raised  more  than  its  quota  for  the 
church  as  well  as  special  funds  for  the  Red  Cross,  the 
China  Famine  Fund  and  local  relief. 

FROM  STRENGTH  TO  STRENGTH 

Going  from  one  phase  of  organization  to  another  the 
Canoga  congregation  next  considered  a  Ladies’  Aid  Society. 
But  Canoga  had  no  vestige  of  activity  that  could  be  so 
utilized.  Invitations  were  accordingly  sent  asking  all  the 
women  in  the  community  to  meet  at  the  parsonage.  Twenty 
responded,  and  were  duly  organized  under  an  efficient  presi¬ 
dent.  The  Ladies’  Aid  Society  had  enough  to  occupy  it 
after  the  long  period  of  neglect  the  church  had  known. 
This  organization  provided  Canoga  church  with  an  indi¬ 
vidual  communion  set,  new  hymnals  and  a  furnace.  The 
church  was  painted  for  the  first  time  in  many  years.  The 
Ladies’  Aid  also  encouraged  community  interest  in  dra¬ 
matics,  and  plays  were  staged  not  only  in  Canoga  but  in 
three  neighboring  towns  and  return  engagements  were 
booked.  This  society  also  conducted  a  church  bazaar  that 
netted  $225.  During  the  summer  the  beautiful  Lake  Cayuga 
at  their  doors  provided  an  ideal  playground  for  the  church 
members,  and  shore  suppers  and  picnics  participated  in  by 
the  congregation  as  a  corporate  religious  body  became  a 
regular  part  of  community  life. 

MEN  AND  women’s  ORGANIZATIONS 

If  Canoga’s  size  is  predetermined  by  outside  economic 
influences,  there  are  no  limits  to  the  activities  of  its  church 
members  under  the  broad,  constructive  policy  of  its  newest 


46 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


pastor.  The  physical  content  of  the  one-room  church  build¬ 
ing  was  the  first  index  to  the  increased  activities  of  its 
members.  It  suddenly  became  too  small  for  the  various 
meetings,  and  while  there  were  no  available  funds  for  the 
ambitious  project  yet  the  congregation  began  to  think  of 
a  community  house.  A  sad  reminder  of  economic  decay  in 
Canoga  was  an  empty,  well-built  two-story  building  of  brick, 
formerly  a  store,  which  lent  itself  ideally  to  the  purpose. 
While  the  Geneva  Presbytery  was  being  entertained  in 
Canoga  the  visitors  heard  of  the  desire  of  their  hosts  and 
presented  them  with  $700.  The  first  floor  of  the  building 
was  divided  into  a  kitchen  and  a  larger  room  with  a  mov¬ 
able  platform  and  chairs.  The  upper  story,  with  a  thirteen 
foot  ceiling,  was  reserved  for  basketball. 

The  men  of  Canoga  parish  wrere  not  to  be  surpassed  by 
the  women.  Besides  supporting  the  new  program  they  or¬ 
ganized  themselves  into  a  Bible  Class  with  a  membership 
of  fourteen,  after  they  felt  they  had  outgrown  a  large  mixed 
class  under  their  capable  leader.  It  is  to  the  Men’s  Sunday 
School  Class  that  the  church  owes  its  basement  with  a 
cement  floor,  as  well  as  the  cement  walk  outside  the  build¬ 
ing.  This  class  has  successfully  linked  the  life  of  the  com¬ 
munity  to  the  church  by  arranging  meetings  in  the  com¬ 
munity  house  to  popularize  the  work  of  the  Farm  Bureau. 

About  the  same  time  another  example  was  furnished  by 
a  community  leader  whose  hobby  is  farming  on  the  latest 
scientific  principles.  This  progressive  leader  employed  a 
trained  farmer,  from  the  Agricultural  Department  of  Cor¬ 
nell  University  at  Ithaca,  to  take  charge  and  to  cooperate 
with  the  County  Agent.  This  demonstration  of  the  ways 
and  means  of  up-to-date  agriculture,  of  improving  and  in¬ 
creasing  the  output  of  a  typical  Canoga  farm  will  have 
its  influence  in  the  community.  The  County  Agent  has  ex¬ 
pressed  his  expert  opinion  that  Canoga’s  ideal  situation  be¬ 
tween  Cayuga  and  Seneca  lakes  dowers  the  little  farming 
hamlet  with  fertile  soil.  This  advantage  promises  a  future 
development  that  is  in  keeping  with  Canoga’s  economic  life, 
which  may  find  the  proximity  of  a  large  urban  center  a  boon 
instead  of  a  menace. 


MUCH  IN  LITTLE 


4  7 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE’S  SHARE 

In  these  various  economic  and  social  ways  leaders  have 
emerged  in  the  little  community  to  link  its  secular  life  with 
that  of  its  church.  But  having  enlisted  the  support  and 
loyalty  of  the  elders  in  the  hamlet  the  pastor  turned  his 
attention  to  that  important  nucleus,  the  younger  generation. 
For  the  first  time  Canoga  found  its  church  offering  a  con¬ 
tinuous,  well-organized  Sunday  school,  with  age  and  sex 
groups  that  would  ensure  a  supply  of  leaders.  The  Sunday 
school  to-day  has  four  organized  departments  with  graded 
lessons,  a  three-year  training  course  for  teachers,  and  a 
Home  Department  for  invalids  and  those  unable  to  attend. 
The  Sunday  school  has  an  enrollment  of  eighty-four  of  all 
ages  against  the  adult  membership  of  the  church  which 
amounts  to  seventy-five. 

The  pastor  has  also  utilized  his  religious  organization  for 
social  and  recreational  purposes.  Nothing  was  easier  than 
to  enroll  the  boy’s  Sunday  school  class  into  a  Scout  Troop, 
or  for  the  pastor’s  wife  to  organize  the  girl’s  class  into  the 
Bluebird  Club.  The  Boy  Scout  Troop  of  fourteen  members, 
and  the  Bluebirds  with  nineteen,  constitute  the  nucleus  of 
all  the  social  activities  of  the  young  folks.  In  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  a  membership  of  forty  brings  these  two 
clubs  into  contact  with  the  rest  of  the  junior  church  mem¬ 
bers,  and  as  a  body  they  arrange  suppers,  special  picnics, 
athletic  events  and  financial  campaigns  as  their  share  of  the 
church  program.  The  funds  derived  from  one  of  the  ban¬ 
quets  has  enabled  them  to  send  delegates  to  a  Young  People’s 
Conference. 

THE  CHURCH  LEADS  THE  COMMUNITY 

With  the  church  as  a  touchstone  for  the  life  of  Canoga 
it  is  natural  to  find  the  community  availing  itself  of  the 
church’s  powers  of  organization.  The  community  now 
takes  part  in  socials,  lake-side  picnics,  dramatics,  athletics 
and  economic  conferences  that  concern  the  needs  of  the 
sole  industry  of  Canoga.  A  notable  social  event  was  the 


48 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Fourth  of  July  celebration,  when  a  parade  of  floats  deco¬ 
rated  by  the  church  and  community  represented  the  mani¬ 
fold  activities  of  all  ages  and  groups  in  Canoga.  The  first 
motion-picture  exhibit  in  Canoga  was  shown  on  a  screen 
stretched  along  the  wall  of  the  church  community  house, 
and  proved  an  attraction  for  people  living  in  all  the  neigh¬ 
boring  villages.  The  experiment  has  worked.  Neither  the 
people  nor  the  home  mission  board  would  go  back  to  the 
old  plan  of  hit-or-miss  preachings.  It  is  worth  while  for 
the  people,  the  minister  and  the  board  to  cooperate  in  mak¬ 
ing  the  church  central  as  it  now  is  in  Canoga’s  life. 

This  inspiring  story  of  service  to  its  community  by  the 
church  is  one  of  humble  and  small  beginnings.  Canoga  had 
reached  a  stage  when  it  was  content  to  hold  itself  together 
in  an  economic  way,  with  no  future  of  any  sort,  with  an 
uninspiring  present.  But  the  sudden  revival  of  its  church 
has  put  a  new  spirit  into  the  community.  Even  its  agricul¬ 
tural  assets  may  look  to  increase  in  value  with  the  adoption 
of  scientific  farming  methods.  What  the  church  has  done 
for  Canoga  the  community  may  now  learn  to  do  for  itself. 
If  Canoga  once  felt  hampered  and  depressed  by  larger  and 
more  flourishing  neighbors,  her  church  has  now  taught  her 
to  use  that  rich  and  large  service  which  brings  perfect 
freedom. 


Chapter  IV 

DIGGING  OUT  THE  BOYS 

BINGHAM  CANYON,  UTAH 

The  story  of  a  drab  rural-industrial  community  and  of  what 
one  church  has  accomplished ,  especially  for  the  boys , 
in  the  biggest  copper  camp  in  the  world. 

In  the  agricultural  community,  men  live  on  the  land  be¬ 
cause  they  love  it.  The  population  is  usually  unshifting 
and  stable,  except  for  some  of  the  young  people  who  “seek 
their  acres  of  diamonds”  in  the  city.  A  certain  spirit  of 
community  pride  is  in  the  air  and  leading  citizens  are  found 
encouraging  their  people  to  make  their  “home  town”  a  better 
place  to  live  in.  In  such  a  community  a  church  may  grow 
and  become  the  center  of  all  activity.  It  knows  its  people 
and  can  depend  upon  them  from  year  to  year.  But  what 
of  the  church  in  a  rural-industrial  mining  community  that  is 
here  to-day  and  gone  to-morrow — in  population  as  shifting 
as  is  the  tide?  Men  live  there  not  because  they  want  to. 
They  care  nothing  for  civic  betterment.  They  come  to  dig 
and  to  get  out.  They  have  no  ties,  no  responsibility,  no 
permanent  desire  for  a  better  place  to  live  in.  If  the  mines 
here  close,  others  are  opened  elsewhere ;  and  almost  over¬ 
night,  perhaps  80  per  cent,  of  the  population  moves  away. 
On  such  a  foundation  what  kind  of  a  church  can  be  built? 
The  Methodist  church  of  Bingham  Canyon  knows  only  too 
well. 

“Bingham  Canyon  is  the  toughest  town  in  Utah,”  men  of 
the  canyon  said,  and  they  said  it  proudly.  This  greatest 
copper  camp  in  the  world  lies  deep  in  a  narrow  gorge  of 
the  Oquirrh  Mountains,  twenty  miles  south  of  Salt  Lake 

City.  Along  the  one  street  that  snakes  its  crazy  way  for 

49 


50 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


thirteen  miles  through  the  canyon  live  the  nine  thousand  in¬ 
habitants,  one-half  of  whom  are  foreigners  and  30  per  cent. 
Mormons. 

On  either  side  of  the  canyon  rise  bald,  brown  peaks, 
some  six  thousand  feet  above  sea  level,  and  on  their  tree¬ 
less  slopes  great  mining  corporations  are  engaged  in  literally 
“moving  mountains.”  Continuous  terrific  blastings  loosen 
thousands  of  tons  at  one  bombardment.  High  above  the 
dismal  town  on  a  cable  reaching  from  Bingham  to  the 
smelter  of  Garfield  eight  miles  away,  the  ore  buckets  con¬ 
tinually  ply  forth  and  back.  The  railroad,  with  its  high 
trestles  and  its  two  hundred  miles  of  trackage  winding  about 
and  crosscutting  the  mountains  looks  like  bands  around  the 
peaks;  the  engines  and  cars  on  the  upper  levels  seem  just 
toy  trains  and  the  men  mere  pigmies. 

When  one  visits  the  camp  for  the  first  time,  having 
traveled  through  the  fertile  irrigated  lands  of  the  beautiful 
Salt  Lake  Valley,  with  its  fine  crops,  orchards,  and  lines  of 
tall,  slender  poplar  trees,  one  is  at  first  overcome  by  the 
strange,  austere  raw  wildness  of  the  place.  The  huddled 
rows  and  tiers  of  little  unpainted  tumble-down  shacks  look 
as  if  they  might  have  been  hurled  down  from  the  moun¬ 
tains  in  chaotic  confusion  and  been  fortunate  enough  to 
have  lodged  somehow  in  the  sands  right  side  up.  Between 
the  rows  of  houses  are  steep  wooden  steps,  some  of  them 
making  one  almost  dizzy  to  climb.  Backyards  are  gaudy 
with  a  variety  of  apparel  strung  along  on  sagging,  over¬ 
worked  clotheslines.  The  doorways  of  the  front  row  of 
houses  along  Main  Street  open  onto  the  very  sidewalk. 
The  gorge  is  less  than  three  hundred  feet  wide  and  the 
street  in  some  places  is  so  narrow  that  autos  can  hardly  pass 
one  another.  Here  and  there,  where  the  mines  have  hurled 
great  heaps  of  rocks  and  dirt  down  the  gully,  huge  walls  of 
log  cribbing  have  been  thrown  up  to  keep  it  from  falling 
into  Main  Street.  Pool-rooms,  homes,  city  hall,  post  office, 
more  homes,  cribbing,  movie-theaters,  restaurants,  stores — 
all  are  shuffled  in  together.  There  are  no  lawns,  no  yards, 
no  trees  nor  gardens,  nor  any  places  for  them.  Along  the 
street  on  one  side,  under  the  three-foot  board  sidewalk,  runs 


DIGGING  OUT  THE  BOYS 


51 


Bingham  Creek,  a  narrow  coppery  stream  that  rushes  down 
through  the  canyon,  serving  as  a  sewer  for  the  camp  and 
as  a  bathing  place  for  the  numerous  pigs  that  run  loose  in 
Lower  Bingham ;  and  becoming,  in  the  spring,  a  torrent  that 
strikes  terror  among  the  people  when  houses  are  wrecked 
by  its  treacherous  floods,  great  gutters  and  holes  are  gorged 
out  of  the  road,  and  lives  endangered. 

A  FLEETING  CONGREGATION 

In  1919  Bingham  was  a  “wide  open”  town  where  poverty 
was  eating  its  way  into  the  hearts  of  men.  Gambling,  card¬ 
playing,  vice  and  drinking  were  all  prevalent;  gangs  of 
boys  were  perpetrating  all  sorts  of  crimes,  with  head¬ 
quarters  in  an  abandoned  mine  tunnel  not  a  mile  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  And  the  church  itself?  It’s 
building  was  new  but  scarcely  better  than  a  barn — just  a 
two-story,  gray,  ugly  structure  with  an  auditorium  seating 
one  hundred  and  fifty  and  on  the  first  floor  a  bleak  little 
study,  a  social  room  whose  only  modern  conveniences  were 
electric  lights,  a  drinking  fountain  and  a  very  small  kitchen. 
Next  door,  an  old  shack  with  two  dark  rooms — dark  because 
a  mountain  of  dirt  backed  up  to  them — had  until  then  served 
as  a  parsonage — a  ramshackle  cabin  with  two  smelly  damp 
rooms,  wedged  in  between  the  church  and  the  mine  dump- 
heap. 

A  new  parsonage  was  being  built  just  behind  the  church, 
but  to  enter  it  one  must  go  through  the  church,  for  the  back 
door  of  the  church  is  only  eight  feet  from  the  front  door 
of  the  manse,  and  the  only  place  from  which  a  picture  can 
be  taken  of  it  is  the  roof  of  the  church  or  the  side  of 
the  mountain.  In  this  church  there  were,  in  1919,  four 
active  members,  one  with  a  broken  hip.  On  the  church  roll 
there  were  forty-six  names  and  thirty-three  of  them  were 
those  of  persons  who  no  longer  lived  in  the  community. 
There  were  six  members  living  in  outlying  districts  who  as¬ 
sisted  in  neighborhood  Sunday  school  work  but  who  never 
got  to  church.  More  than  half  the  rest  frankly  admitted 
they  were  no  longer  living  Christian  lives. 


52 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


There  was  no  systematic  handling  of  church  funds.  No 
attempt  was  being  made  to  reach  foreigners  and  no  clubs  or 
societies  were  organized  for  sociability  or  service  among 
the  various  groups.  The  church  was  practically  a  dead  or¬ 
ganization  in  the  heart  of  an  indifferent,  unwieldy  parish. 
Added  to  these  difficulties  the  mines  were  running  on  a 
three-shift  schedule,  so  that  men  worked  Sundays  as  well 
as  week  days  and  at  night  as  by  day.  The  population  was 
made  up  of  cliques  and  non-cooperative  groups  that  were 
as  shifting  as  the  sands  of  the  Sahara. 

THE  NEED  TO  REACH  THE  BOYS 

Into  this  treeless  camp,  with  all  its  bitterness,  roughness, 
restlessness  and  indifference,  with  its  lack  of  stability  and 
ideals,  came  the  Rev.  Lester  P.  Fagen,  pastor,  painter,  na¬ 
ture  lover,  authority  on  birds  and  trees  and  a  student  of 
natural  science  and  sociology — a  man  of  dynamic  personality 
and  a  born  “builder  of  souls,”  unafraid  of  the  truth,  a 
trained  and  experienced  man  among  men.  The  first  de¬ 
cision  he  made  as  he  surveyed  the  situation  was  that  what¬ 
ever  else  he  accomplished  he  must  in  some  way  reach  the 
boys,  and  in  spite  of  the  barriers  that  looked  as  high  as  the 
Oquirrh  peaks  about  him,  he  set  out  to  “break  through.” 
Side  by  side  with  the  miners  who  went  daily  to  dig  out 
copper  underground  went  Mr.  Fagen  to  dig  out  boys 
throughout  the  length  of  the  canyon. 

And  while  he  was  getting  acquainted  he  was  beginning 
the  reorganization  of  his  church,  which  was  to  become 
known  as  the  “House  of  Happiness.”  Seven  weeks  of  cot¬ 
tage  prayer  meetings  were  held,  after  which  a  great  revival 
took  place.  At  the  beginning,  forty  were  converted  and 
twenty-two  became  church  members.  Later,  forty  more 
were  converted  and  more  than  a  score  joined  the  church  on 
confession  of  faith. 

Meanwhile  the  new  parsonage  had  been  completed  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fagen  kept  open  house  with  special  invita¬ 
tions  to  the  boys  of  the  canyon.  A  systematic  handling  of 
finances  was  introduced  and  an  every-member  canvass  was 


DIGGING  OUT  THE  BOYS 


53 


made.  All  money  has  ever  since  been  raised  by  a  regular 
budget  system  and  duplex  envelopes  are  used.  Five  years 
ago  the  total  amount  raised  for  benevolences  was  $91,  but 
in  1922  it  amounted  to  $731.  Salaries  in  1917  were  only 
$546;  last  year  the  figure  was  $1,739.  To  interest  Bingham 
Canyon  in  a  get-together  program,  a  direct  appeal  was  made 
to  every  group — old  and  young,  men,  women,  boys,  girls, 
little  folks  and  foreigners.  Wherever  the  pastor  found  a 
common  interest  even  smoldering,  he  formed  an  organi¬ 
zation  around  it.  He  found  a  group  of  boys  and  girls  going 
off  Sunday  afternoons  and  taking  pictures,  some  of  them 
neither  artistic  nor  particularly  desirable.  One  day  he  asked 
them  how  they  would  like  to  have  a  camera  club.  They  at 
once  grew  enthusiastic ;  the  group  was  organized  and  began 
to  learn  to  do  expert  photography,  to  take  freak  pictures  and 
to  make  slides. 

Mr.  Fagen  is  extremely  adept  at  character-reading,  and 
last  year  he  formed  a  study  group  in  this  subject,  among 
those  interested  being  several  school  teachers,  who  in  turn 
told  their  pupils  about  it.  Before  he  knew  it,  the  pastor 
was  swamped  by  appeals  for  interviews.  Pupils  were  even 
excused  during  leisure  periods  to  go  from  the  school  to 
the  pastor’s  study.  This  character  class  was  the  indirect 
means  of  bringing  to  him  every  senior  and  junior  and  more 
than  half  the  rest  of  the  high  school  pupils.  Mormons 
came  and  Roman  Catholics  and  children  of  various  denomi¬ 
nations,  and  for  weeks  every  minute  of  every  available  hour 
was  filled  with  these  interviews.  The  problem  of  the  young 
people  was  in  a  fair  way  to  solution. 

Meanwhile  the  Ladies’  Aid  and  the  Mission  Society  were 
reorganized  and  both  began  to  raise  money  for  carrying  on 
their  respective  work.  The  two  deaconesses  and  the  assist¬ 
ant  parish  worker,  who  are  all  members  of  the  church  staff, 
began  classes  in  sewing,  basketry  and  whittling. 

And  chief  of  all — the  Boy  Scouts  were  organized.  One 
by  one  the  boys  of  the  canyon  became  interested,  for  Mr. 
Fagen  is  an  experienced  scout  master.  Many  of  the  boys 
of  the  old  tunnel  gang  became  scouts;  and  in  two  years 
twenty-four  of  them  became  church  members.  Girl  Scouts, 


54 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Mountain  Boys  and  Pioneer  Girls  were  also  organized  and 
are  the  most  active  young  people’s  groups  of  the  church. 
Regular  weekly  athletic  periods  are  conducted  under  Mr. 
Fagen’s  leadership.  Once  a  year  a  demonstration  week  is 
observed  when  the  people  of  the  canyon  are  shown  what 
the  boys  can  do.  There  are  drills  and  yells,  cheers  and 
scout  craft  exhibitions.  Mr.  Fagen  says  his  scouts  are  his 
best  advertisers. 

THE  WAY  TO  THE  PROMISED  LAND 

After  the  pastor  had  his  scouts  ready  for  action  he  was 
without  any  place  to  hike  with  them.  To  study  nature 
where  there  were  no  trees  was  impossible.  Camping  trips 
must  be  taken ;  but  no  suitable  camp  ground  was  to  be  found 
in  this  dingy  copper  camp.  Then  came  a  solution  which 
was  a  triumph  in  every  way.  On  the  other  side  of  West 
Mountain  was  Middle  Canyon,  a  wild,  green  country  of 
pines,  quaking  aspens  and  alders,  where  a  stream  wound 
its  way  through  a  beautiful  valley,  where  berries  grew  abun¬ 
dantly  and  belonged  to  whoever  might  pick  them. 

There  also  were  the  State  Epworth  League  buildings 
which  were  well  equipped  for  campers  and  available  at  all 
times.  To  reach  this  playground  the  pastor  and  his  scouts 
must  hike  through  a  mine  tunnel  two  and  one-half  miles 
in  pitchy  darkness.  But  what  should  a  group  of  sturdy 
lads  care  for  that?  They  slosh  through  the  muddy  hole  in 
the  mountain  with  their  little  carbide  lights  and  actually 
enjoy  the  trip.  Even  the  girls  go  over  to  Middle  Canyon 
from  time  to  time  for  picnics.  This,  then,  became  Bing¬ 
ham  Canyon’s  playground  and  the  scene  of  many  bacon  bats, 
of  nature  study  talks  and  of  story-telling,  and  where  Mr. 
Fagen  and  his  boys  went  over  their  problems  together  and 
became  fast  friends.  This  Utah  Metals  mine  tunnel,  which 
is  closed  to  the  public  except  during  the  hours  before  the 
morning  and  evening  shifts  go  into  the  mines,  has  served, 
like  the  Red  Sea  of  old,  to  lead  the  boys  of  Bingham  Canyon 
into  a  wonderful  land,  which  they  have  found  as  beautiful 
as  was  the  Promised  Land  to  the  children  of  Israel. 


DIGGING  OUT  THE  BOYS 


55 


An  every-day-in-the-year  program  was  adopted  as  soon 
as  the  groups  were  organized,  in  which  was  included  every 
kind  of  entertainment  from  a  formal  reception  to  an  egg 
hunt.  Special  days  are  celebrated.  Ghost  parties,  picnics, 
hikes,  father  and  son  and  mother  and  daughter  banquets, 
May  breakfasts,  flower  parties,  chicken  dinners,  council 
meetings,  and  numberless  other  social  occasions  are  enjoyed 
by  old  and  young. 

While  the  work  was  being  developed  at  the  “House  of 
Happiness”  the  two  deaconesses  and  the  assistant  were  re¬ 
organizing  Sunday  schools  at  Lark  and  Highland  Boy,  two 
neighborhoods  of  Bingham,  in  two  little  one-room  buildings 
which,  as  the  pastor  says,  are  “a  shame  to  Christianity,” 
but  which  are  the  best  to  be  had  at  present.  At  Highland 
Boy  most  of  the  members  are  little  foreigners,  including 
Spanish  lads,  Austrians,  Finns,  Japanese,  Greeks,  Serbians 
and  Italians.  Adequate  helpers  and  equipment  are  lacking 
in  both  Sunday  schools.  The  memberships  of  the  three 
schools  at  present  number  as  follows : 

Membership  Av.  Attendance 


Bingham . 

208 

85 

Highland  Boy . . 

100 

45 

Copperfield  . 

60 

35 

368 

165 

The  Sunday  school  at  Bingham  has  a  membership  twice 
the  size  of  the  church  enrollment,  though  fifty-four  of  its 
members  are  also  members  of  the  church,  or  are  on  the 
preparatory  membership  list.  Eight  are  Roman  Catholics 
and  thirteen  are  Mormons. 

In  the  spring  of  1921,  when  the  community  program  had 
been  in  motion  for  eighteen  months,  Mr.  Fagen  made  a 
survey  of  the  community. 

He  learned  that  the  population  was  10,200,  of  whom 
4,000  were  unmarried  men  and  all  but  1,550  foreigners.  Of 
the  adults,  there  were  2,000  nominal  Catholics  and  2,500 


56 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


nominal  Mormons,  leaving  1,700  Protestants,  Christian 
Scientists,  Unitarians  and  Orientals.  The  number  touched 
by  the  work  was  750,  of  whom  320  were  Americans.  Five 
hundred  and  eleven  attended  services  and  included: 

275  Americans. 

65  English. 

20  Scotch,  Irish,  Welsh. 

50  Italians. 

30  Finns. 

8  Greeks. 

3  Japanese. 

60  Others  of  nine  nationalities. 

511  Total. 

One  hundred  and  forty-three  were  church  members,  and 
thirty-four  of  these  were  foreigners.  Groups  were  well 
organized.  The  church  was  well  supported  and  growing. 

THE  CONGREGATION  VANISHES 

Then  like  a  bomb  explosion  the  mines  shut  down  sud¬ 
denly  and  80  per  cent,  of  the  population  moved  away.  Of 
the  new  church  members,  all  but  two  left  town.  Money 
grew  scarce  again  and  people  once  more  became  down¬ 
hearted.  Attendance  at  services  dwindled.  Leaders  were 
lost.  Mr.  Fagen  had  especially  stressed  leadership  train¬ 
ing.  The  class  had  been  selected  from  the  scouts  of  fifteen 
years  or  older.  There  were  eighty-five  present  in  1920  at 
a  big  father  and  son  banquet,  including  forty-three  men 
and  forty-two  boys.  Before  the  next  banquet  was  held  the 
mines  had  closed  and  twenty-two  of  the  boys  had  left  the 
canyon,  the  results  of  their  training  lost,  at  least  to  this 
church  and  community.  Before  he  could  once  more  start 
the  organization  on  the  up-grade,  Mr.  Fagen  was  called 
away  from  the  parish  on  an  extended  field  trip  and  by  the 
time  he  returned  the  church  was  again  almost  powerless, 
like  a  rudderless  ship  in  a  rough  sea. 


THE  PASTOR,  WHO  IS  ALSO  SCOUTMASTER,  AND  HIS  BOYS 


WHAT  THE  BOY  SCOUTS  FIND  AFTER  HIKING  TWO  MILES  THROUGH  A  TUNNEL 
— A  WELCOME  CHANGE  FROM  THEIR  TREELESS  CANYON 


THE  LONG  UNLOVELY  MAIN  STREET  OF  BINGHAM  CANYON  STRAGGLES  ALONG 
FOR  THIRTEEN  MILES  IN  THIS  CLEFT  BETWEEN  RUGGED  AND  PRECIPITOUS 
MOUNTAINS 


DIGGING  OUT  THE  BOYS 


57 


But  Mr.  Fagen  is  an  optimist  and  not  to  be  daunted. 
The  mines  were  now  reopening  and  new  people  were  com¬ 
ing  to  Bingham,  though  in  smaller  numbers,  for  the  wage 
scale  had  been  lowered  considerably.  New  boys  found  Mr. 
Fagen  still  scouting  for  scouts,  and  in  order  to  avoid  losing 
the  interest  of  the  older  scouts  who  were  left,  he  divided 
them  into  three  divisions,  so  that  all  might  proceed  with 
their  instruction.  Foreigners  were  coming  in  rapidly  and 
Mr.  Fagen  endeavored  to  interest  them  in  his  program, 
though  with  varied  success. 

Unusual  ways  of  interesting  newcomers  were  tried  out. 
One  Sunday  night  the  young  people  of  the  Epworth  League 
decided  to  have  an  out-of-door  meeting.  There  being  no 
place  out  of  doors  to  hold  it  they  decided  to  make  an  “out- 
of-doors”  indoors.  They  brought  a  pile  of  logs  into  the 
social  room  and  with  the  help  of  a  red  light  bulb  they  made 
their  camp  fire.  Cones  and  pine  branches  from  Middle 
Canyon  were  strewn  over  the  plank  floor.  Rugs  were  laid 
in  a  big  circle,  and  to  finish  the  setting  they  put  up  a  huge 
out-of-door  scene,  painted  on  oil  cloth  not  long  before  by 
Mr.  Fagen  to  advertise  Boy  Scout  Week.  It  was  a  scene 
typical  of  Utah,  with  buff-colored  background  of  mountains 
and  in  the  foreground  a  lake,  rocks,  waterfalls,  and  a  few 
slender  pines.  About  thirty  were  present  and  all  sat  cross- 
legged  about  the  fire.  By  the  dim  light  the  young  people 
lost  all  sense  of  embarrassment  and  made  some  really  fine 
talks.  Taps  followed  the  singing  and  the  meeting  was  dis¬ 
missed.  It  had  been  a  helpful,  impressive,  live  service. 

GETTING  ANOTHER  START 

And  the  Methodist  church  is  to-day  on  the  up-grade  once 
more.  Its  membership  numbers  one  hundred  and  seven  and 
there  are  twenty-three  boys  and  girls  in  a  preparatory  class. 
In  the  three  years,  there  have  been  three  hundred  conver¬ 
sions  and  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  have  become 
church  members.  The  memberships  and  average  attend¬ 
ance  of  the  various  organizations  are  shown  as  follows : 


58 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Organisations 

Members 

Average 

Attendance 

Meetings 
a  Month 

Ladies’  Aid  . 

20 

6 

4 

Mission  Society . 

36 

15 

1 

Girl  Scouts . 

15 

7 

4 

Boy  Scouts . 

48 

32 

4 

Pioneer  Girls . 

18 

12 

4 

Mountain  Boys  . 

35 

9 

4 

Bluebirds  . 

18 

9 

4 

Epworth  League . 

25 

12 

4 

Character  Club . 

14 

12 

4 

Camera  Club . 

12 

9 

4 

Sewing  Club  . 

51 

16 

4 

Whittling  Club  . 

Mothers’  Jewels  (infants) 

42 

11 

4 

19 

The  Sunday  schools  at  Lark  and  Highland  Boy  are  grow¬ 
ing  and  the  average  attendance  of  the  school  at  Bingham  is 
eighty-five.  A  successful  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School  was 
held  this  year  at  Highland  Boy  with  an  enrollment  of  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  and  an  average  attendance  of  sixty- 
four,  despite  the  lack  of  adequate  equipment. 

Bingham  Canyon  says  of  Mr.  Fagen:  “He  can  do  any¬ 
thing/'  Men  are  his  friends,  though  few  in  the  Canyon 
are  his  followers.  If  by  chance  he  goes  into  a  pool-room, 
some  one  inevitably  taps  him  on  the  shoulder  and  says: 
“Hello,  Fagen,  how  are  you  ?  What  are  you  doing  in  here  ? 
This  is  no  place  for  you.”  But  the  boys  are  different.  They 
are  his  pals.  They  have  hiked  with  him,  played  with  him, 
prayed  with  him  and  learned  from  him  to  love  good  books 
and  life  at  its  best.  They  are  his  sworn  friends  and  he  is 
their  champion. 

Plans  are  on  foot  for  a  new  $10,000  community  building 
now  necessary  in  order  that  crowding  may  be  eliminated 
and  that  a  more  direct  appeal  regardless  of  denomination 
and  nationality  may  be  made  to  the  very  heart  and  soul  of 
Bingham  Canyon.  And  though  the  life  of  the  “House  of 
Happiness”  has  been  full  of  ups  and  downs,  yet  under  the 
leadership  of  this  fearless,  dynamic  builder  it  has  never 
allowed  the  Cross  to  retreat. 


DIGGING  OUT  THE  BOYS 


59 


The  abandoned  mine  tunnel  is  abandoned  still,  haunted 
only  by  the  ghosts  of  the  old-time  gangs.  One  thing  is 
certain.  Said  an  influential  banker  of  Bingham  Canyon: 
“The  life  of  the  boyhood  of  this  camp  has  been  completely 
revolutionized.” 

And  what  of  the  Bingham  Canyon  community  church  of 
to-morrow?  Who  can  tell?  The  average  church  aims  to 
become  a  permanent  organization  with  a  membership  which 
will  remain  to  share  the  responsibility  of  its  support  from 
year  to  year.  All  that  this  church  can  hope  for  is  to  keep 
alive,  join  hands  with  the  people  passing  by,  encourage 
them  to  fight  on  and  give  them  its  blessing — “a  house  by 
the  side  of  the  road,”  and  in  deed  and  in  very  truth  a 
“friend  to  man.” 

It  may  never  grow  to  be  a  great  institution  in  number 
of  members.  Leaders  will  be  trained  here  whose  services 
may  never  help  to  develop  a  Bingham  Canyon  church — but 
elsewhere,  as  the  continual  shifting  of  population  goes  on, 
many  a  church  will  be  the  stronger  because  of  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  those  who  once  lived  in  the  greatest  copper  camp 
in  the  world. 


Chapter  V, 

MINISTERING  TO  THE  MIGRANT 
LARNED,  KANSAS 

What  the  Church  can  do  for  the  quarter  of  a  million  migrant 
harvesters  that  annually  follow  the  wheat  crops  from 
Texas  northward. 

Very  seldom  is  it  that  the  average  rural  circuit,  of  three 
to  five  churches,  loosely  organized  as  perforce  it  must  be, 
can  come  forward  and  assume  not  only  local  but  state-wide 
leadership  in  the  solution  of  a  problem  which  has  vexed 
the  minds  of  both  public  and  church  officials.  Yet  this  is 
just  what  the  Methodist  Circuit  around  Larned,  in  Pawnee 
County,  Kansas,  did. 

The  problem  that  was  faced  was  the  problem  of  the 
modern  Ishmael,  the  migrant  laborer  who  is  the  backbone  of 
the  wheat  harvest.  Year  after  year,  when  the  wheat  belt 
sends  out  its  call  for  help  it  is  the  migrant  who  responds. 
To  him  wheat  is  just  one  interest,  for  the  real  migrant 
helps  in  such  varied  harvests  as  the  fruit  and  vegetables  of 
the  Pacific  Coast,  the  beets  of  Colorado,  the  cranberries 
of  New  England,  and  in  winter  he  cuts  the  ice  that  is  stored 
for  those  summers  when  he  is  sweating  in  the  wheat  fields 
of  Kansas. 

To  the  Kansas  farmer,  on  the  other  hand,  the  migrant 
is  all  important,  for  it  is  he  who  fills  Kansas  with  the 
finest  wheat.  Yet  to  the  average  farmer  the  migrant  is  a 
necessary  evil.  He  is  adjudged  a  radical,  a  negligible  factor, 
unstable.  He  receives  small  consideration,  and  those  who 
most  depend  upon  him  for  emergency  help  are  most  re¬ 
joiced  to  see  him  leave  when  the  necessity  for  his  assistance 
has  passed. 


60 


MINISTERING  TO  THE  MIGRANT 


61 


It  was  in  April,  1920,  that  the  Kansas  State  College  of 
Agriculture  began  to  explain  to  the  farmers  that  harvest 
hands  must  be  treated  like  human  beings  if  they  were  ex¬ 
pected  to  return  year  after  year  to  help  Kansas  to  pros¬ 
perity.  It  was  one  thing  to  tell  the  farmer  to  treat  his 
casual  laborer  humanely;  it  was  another  thing  to  explain 
just  what  this  changed  attitude  entailed. 

THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  CHURCH 

As  one  approach  to  the  problem  the  college  sent  an  urgent 
letter  to  all  the  clergymen  in  the  State’s  wheat  belt  stating 
the  problem  and  asking  them  for  help.  Every  county  agent 
was  advised  of  this  letter  and  instructed  to  cooperate  with 
the  clergy.  There  followed,  as  in  the  case  of  all  such  ap¬ 
peals,  the  usual  period  of  doubt  and  hesitation  that  passes 
for  consideration,  but  in  Pawnee  the  county  agent  found 
one  pastor  and  one  circuit  that  was  ready,  the  Methodist 
Circuit  of  Larned,  Kansas,  Rev.  P.  W.  Mawdsley,  pastor. 

This  church  was  ready  because  under  the  leadership  of 
a  shirt-sleeved  pastor,  who  himself  had  worked  as  a  hired 
hand,  the  circuit  of  four  churches  had  for  some  years  been 
doing  things.  All  of  them  had  grown  from  small  groups, 
the  oldest  founded  only  in  1873,  to  congregations  that  well 
deserved  the  time  and  energy  of  a  man  like  Mr.  Mawdsley. 
Young  and  old  have  followed  his  leadership  in  all  four  of 
the  churches.  Much  was  made  of  social  life.  Even  the 
annual  improvement  day  of  the  churches  became  a  social 
event  when  all  the  parish  families  collected  around  their 
church  enjoying  work  as  well  as  the  meals  together.  Much 
was  made  of  the  Epworth  League  which  was  the  young 
people’s  society.  Here  leadership  was  developed,  frequent 
socials  were  held.  Many  unique  ideas  were  tried  out  at 
these  occasions  which  proved  of  great  value  when  the  cir¬ 
cuit’s  peculiar  opportunity  came. 

Two  features  of  the  program  give  an  insight  into  the 
work  and  methods  of  this  circuit.  Instead  of  the  old-fash¬ 
ioned  Harvest  Home  the  Larned  people  have  a  Booth  Fes¬ 
tival  under  the  management  of  the  Epworth  Leagues  of  the 


62 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Circuit.  On  the  first  day  of  October  the  people  bring  to 
the  County  Fair  Grounds  their  vegetables,  flowers,  fruits, 
poultry  and  needlework.  Ribbons  are  the  only  prizes*  the 
proceeds  going  to  the  Conference  Hospital.  There  are  ath¬ 
letic  contests,  including  a  baseball  game  and  a  track  meet. 
There  are  other  healthy  amusements.  All  contestants  must 
be  members  of  the  church,  Sunday  school  or  Epworth 
League  of  one  of  the  congregations  of  the  circuit. 

Another  unique  feature  of  the  program  is  the  evangelistic 
work  of  the  circuit.  Evangelistic  meetings  are  held  in  each 
of  the  churches  every  year.  For  the  pastor  to  carry  the  full 
burden  would  require  nearly  two  months’  time.  Mr. 
Mawdsley  conceived  the  idea  of  making  the  people  their 
own  evangelists.  A  leader  was  selected  in  each  church  and 
he,  in  turn,  selected  lieutenants.  Themes  were  prepared  and 
the  leaders  were  instructed.  There  was  the  usual  spiritual 
preparation  such  as  the  holding  of  cottage  prayer  meetings. 
When  the  campaign  opened  in  a  circuit  for  one  week  each 
church  conducted  its  own  services.  The  second  week  it  had 
the  leadership  of  its  pastor.  The  services  were  so  arranged 
that  the  weeks  which  the  pastor  gave  were  consecutive.  The 
whole  campaign  was  over  in  one  month  and  in  at  least 
one  of  the  churches  there  were  conversions  during  the  week 
when  the  unassisted  local  leaders  were  in  charge. 

It  was  to  a  pastor  and  people  such  as  these  that  the 
county  agent  turned  with  the  appeal  that  had  come.  The 
situation  was  peculiarly  aggravated,  as  is  indicated  by  the 
summary  of  that  official,  which  is  typical  of  many  crises 
that  occur  annually  throughout  the  wheat  belt : 

“There  was  a  steady  demand  for  men  from  the  first  of  the 
month  for  general  farm  work  at  $2  per  day  or  $50  per  month. 
Early  in  the  month  about  40  college  boys  from  Indiana  came 
to  Larned  in  a  body  and  that  more  than  supplied  the  demand 
for  three  or  four  days. 

“By  the  15th  of  the  month  the  weather  conditions  threat¬ 
ened  to  dry  up  the  wheat  prematurely  and  on  the  16th  the 
agent  sent  a  call  to  the  employment  agencies  at  Hutchinson, 
Kansas  City  and  Topeka  for  1,000  men.  On  the  17th  the 
weather  changed  and  about  a  week  of  cool  weather  followed. 


MINISTERING  TO  THE  MIGRANT 


63 


This  delayed  the  harvest  from  a  week  to  10  days,  and  we  had 
a  surplus  of  from  100  to  300  men  all  the  rest  of  the  month.” 

THE  RESPONSE 

Pastor  and  county  agent  immediately  began  earnest  co-v 
operation.  They  presented  the  case  to  the  mayor  of  Larned 
and  the  Business  Men’s  and  Farmers’  Organizations  and  to 
the  churches. 

The  condition  of  large  groups  of  homeless  strangers  stand¬ 
ing  idle  in  any  town,  depressed  by  a  hostile  environment, 
irritated  because  they  are  not  hired  immediately  upon  their 
arrival,  is  not  at  any  time  enviable.  Their  influence  upon  the 
town  is  not  good  because  such  conditions  are  not  likely  to 
bring  out  the  best  that  is  in  them.  The  influence  of  the  town 
or  the  community  upon  them  is  equally  negative,  because  the 
town  in  self-protection  will  have  raised  a  protective  barrier 
between  its  best  classes  and  its  stranded,  unhappy  guests. 
Despite  its  economic  aspects  the  situation  really  should  rest 
upon  a  basis  of  broad  humanity,  such  as  concerns  a  church. 

The  town  of  Larned  appointed  a  committee,  and  soon  had 
the  county  agent’s  office  furnished  as  a  welfare  room  for  the 
harvest  hands,  with  a  telephone,  an  attendant,  tables,  chairs, 
stationery,  games  and  reading  matter.  The  services  of  a 
county  nurse  were  included.  The  expenses  were  underwrit¬ 
ten  by  the  business  organizations,  and  the  town  council  con¬ 
tributed  $22.50  for  an  attendant. 

Since  the  hotels  and  rooming  houses  of  Larned  were  taxed 
to  the  utmost  by  those  of  the  harvest  hands  fortunate  enough 
to  possess  funds  to  bridge  the  idle  interval,  this  room  at 
night  became  a  dormitory  for  those  who  were  not  prepared 
for  the  emergency.  When  the  rush  was  over  the  janitor 
removed  from  the  room  over  six  hundred  pounds  of  waste 
paper,  which  consisted  of  reading  matter  collected  for  the 
men,  and  which  had  later  been  used  by  them  as  bedding. 

Pastor  Mawdsley  spent  all  the  time  he  could  spare  ar¬ 
ranging  programs  and  conducting  meetings  in  which  one  or 
more  of  his  rural  churches  took  part.  The  home  ties  of 
the  men  were  renewed.  They  were  persuaded  to  write  to 


64 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


their  friends  and  relatives  on  special  stationery  that  drew 
attention  to  Larned  in  many  a  far-away  home  whose  bread 
came  from  this  Kansas  circuit.  Many  men  were  obliged  to 
wait  more  than  a  week  for  employment.  Those  who  were 
penniless  were  given  an  opportunity  by  the  town  to  work  for 
their  board. 

Pastor  Mawdsley  set  the  precedent  of  bringing  the  home 
and  church  life  of  Larned  to  the  harvest  workers.  Musical 
numbers  and  concerts,  with  singing  by  the  workers,  were 
rendered  by  a  group  of  young  people  from  Larned  and  its 
circuit.  For  many  of  these  entertainments  the  harvest 
workers  furnished  talent.  This  policy  drew  the  following 
note  of  thanks  from  one  of  the  men: 

“We  certainly  appreciate  the  kindness  shown  us  by  the 
young  ladies  to  come  and  entertain  a  bunch  of  strangers  and 
rough-necks  as  they  did  Tuesday  night.  I  have  tramped 
from  coast  to  coast,  but  have  never  been  in  a  community 
where  they  treat  harvest  hands  as  they  do  in  Larned,  Kansas. 
They  sure  try  to  make  one  feel  at  home. 

“I  want  to  especially  thank  Miss  Pierce  for  the  splendid 
reading  she  rendered,  and  the  other  young  lady  whose  name 
I  don’t  remember.  I  have  never  been  in  a  town  in  harvest 
where  they  furnish  you  books,  games  and  music.  Larned, 
Kansas,  is  on  the  top  round  of  the  ladder  when  it  comes 
to  welcoming  harvest  hands. 

“I  don’t  want  to  forget  to  thank  the  county  agent,  Mr. 
Schnacke,  and  his  associates  in  the  office  for  their  kindness.” 

As  this  harvest  hand  testifies,  the  rural  employer  gen¬ 
erally  regards  the  migrant  worker  as  a  worthless  member 
of  society,  to  be  used  only  to  meet  the  harvest  needs  and 
then  cast  out  as  soon  as  possible.  This  also  is  the  attitude 
of  the  employer’s  family  toward  the  migrant.  Mr.  Mawds¬ 
ley,  as  a  field  hand,  had  learned  this  by  experience.  Whar 
was  done  by  Larned  to  lessen  the  migrant’s  trials  and  dis¬ 
comforts  was  excellent,  and  an  example  for  other  towns  in 
the  wheat  belt. 

The  social  as  well  as  the  religious  atmosphere  of  harvest 
communities  is  too  often  hostile  to  the  “foreigner”  and  his 


A  DISPLAY  OF  GARDEN  PRODUCE  AT  THE  BOOTH  FESTIVAL 


, 


MINISTERING  TO  THE  MIGRANT 


65 


tired  soul.  Mr.  Mawdsley  insisted  upon  the  development 
of  a  community  feeling  that  should  make  the  harvester  feel 
as  if  he  were  among  his  own  folk  and  friends,  a  guest  in 
the  sort  of  home  and  church  that  he  had  left  behind  on  the 
long  trail  of  his  economic  Odyssey.  Larned  and  its  circuit 
began  to  treat  the  once  hated  “grasshopper”  as  a  tempo¬ 
rary  neighbor  and  co-worker ;  above  all,  as  a  Christian. 

One  of  the  homely  customs  in  the  four  churches  of  the 
Larned  circuit  during  the  hot  summer  weather  is  for  the 
pastor  to  enter  his  pulpit  in  shirt  sleeves  and  preach  to  a 
coatless  congregation.  When  Pastor  Mawdsley  invited  the 
harvest  hands  to  come  to  his  four  churches,  he  cordially 
reminded  them  that  Larned  was  more  interested  in  the  man 
than  in  the  clothes  he  wore.  “Come  just  as  you  are!”  was 
the  urgent  request.  On  Sunday  afternoons  he  took  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  his  four  congregations  to  the  welfare  room  in 
the  Larned  Court  House  and  conducted  services. 

During  the  three  harvest-Sundays  of  Mr.  Mawdsley’s 
first  year  there  were  three  hundred  and  sixteen  men  present 
at  the  six  religious  services ;  during  the  second  harvest-year 
there  were  three  hundred  and  thirty-five,  and  during  the 
last  year,  when  the  harvester-welfare  work  was  established, 
there  were  four  hundred  and  eighteen  present  at  the  serv¬ 
ices.  Meanwhile,  those  laborers  on  the  surrounding  farms 
of  the  circuit  were  not  neglected.  Farmers  arranged  to 
drive  the  harvesters  to  church,  and  Mr.  Mawdsley  sent  the 
men  post-cards  with  the  circuit  church  program.  Many 
a  harvest  hand  who  had  not  entered  a  church  since  boy¬ 
hood,  who  had  learned,  during  his  rough  wanderer’s  life, 
to  suspect  the  church  as  the  source  of  all  that  discriminated 
against  him  socially,  renewed  his  church  ties. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  Larned  gave  up  its  custom  of 
keeping  open  its  stores  on  Sunday  for  the  harvest  hands. 
The  monotony  of  a  holiday,  a  Sabbath  or  a  day  of  bad 
weather,  has  been  banished  in  Larned.  Those  who  went 
to  town  to  loaf  found  instead  a  place  to  rest,  to  write 
letters  home,  to  read  and  spend  their  time  profitably  until 
the  evening  service  in  which  they  chose  and  sang  their 
favorite  hymns.  Or  the  farmers  took  Mr.  Mawdsley’s  text 


66 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


of  sociability  and  entertained  their  help  in  their  own  homes ; 
or  joined  with  neighbors  in  a  picnic  or  a  joint  church-going 
party. 


GO  THOU  AND  DO  LIKEWISE 

So  successful  was  the  work,  so  cordial  the  response  of 
the  men,  that  Mr.  Mawdsley  has  been  sent  to  no  fewer 
than  seventy  other  communities  to  tell  the  story  and  en¬ 
courage  similar  work;  for  he  has  found  the  solution  of  a 
problem  that  has  ever  burdened  the  church  and  church 
leaders.  There  have  been  pastors  who  closed  their  churches 
during  the  wheat  harvest  and  left  on  vacations  when  the 
migrant  came  to  town.  The  Methodist  circuit  at  Larned, 
Kansas,  has  taught  a  better  way ;  and  has  made  the  Gospel 
a  more  vital  and  living  thing  both  to  the  strangers  tempo¬ 
rarily  there  and  to  the  permanent  residents  to  whom  these 
strangers  bring  prosperity. 


Chapter  VI 

THE  LARGER  PARISH 

COLLBRAN  AND  MONTROSE,  COLORADO 

The  story  of  the  old  circuit  system  with  twentieth  century 
emendations,  in  which  the  church  at  the  center  is  not 
content  to  stay  there. 

A  decade  ago  the  neglected  fields  survey  of  the  Home 
Missions  Council  showed  that  hundreds  of  people  in  the 
valleys  of  the  western  slope  of  the  Rockies  were  living  with 
little  or  no  opportunity  to  attend  a  church  service  or  a 
Sunday  school.  There  were  countless  communities  where 
the  church-going  habit  was  extinct ;  there  were  school- 
houses  which  could  be  developed  into  live  community 
centers  with  help  from  the  outside.  There  were  two 
churches  in  Colorado,  one  at  Montrose,  a  town  of  3,500, 
and  the  other  at  Collbran,  a  village  of  300,  which  found 
themselves  surrounded  by  conditions  such  as  these.  Out 
of  them  grew  a  vision  of  larger  service  which  has  changed 
the  lives  of  these  churches,  and  with  the  aid  of  their  de¬ 
nominational  boards  they  have  gone  far  toward  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  their  particular  problems  and  toward  serving  as 
models  inspiring  to  others. 

Montrose  and  Collbran  are  situated  on  the  western  slope 
of  Colorado,  a  part  of  the  country  where  all  is  bristling 
with  new  life.  Within  an  area  of  104,000  square  miles, 
the  segment  of  the  Rockies  lying  within  the  state  boasts  of 
155  mountain  peaks,  each  more  than  1,200  feet  above  the 
arc  of  the  sea.  A  series  of  deep  valleys,  once  lake  basins, 
lies  encircled  by  ranges  of  mountains.  Within  these  valleys 

are  rolling  mesas  and  fertile  stretches,  and  in  two  such 

67 


68  CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 

valleys,  Uncompaghre  and  Plateau,  lie  Montrose  and 
Collbran. 

In  1858  prospectors  began  to  trickle  into  these  hard- 
locked  highlands  in  search  of  gold,  driving  the  red  men  of 
the  Ute  tribe,  who  generations  ago  made  this  their  home, 
to  a  wilderness  farther  on.  “Lured  by  the  mystery  of  the 
West  and  challenged  alike  by  its  wilderness  and  its  possi¬ 
bilities/’  homesteaders  from  Ohio,  Michigan,  Illinois  and 
the  Atlantic  states,  as  well  as  families  burned  out  in  the 
prairie  fires  of  Kansas  straggled  in.  Conditions  changed 
fast  in  the  new  West.  Soon  the  whistle  of  an  engine 
sounded  in  the  region  of  Montrose,  which  to  the  pio¬ 
neers  who  were  fighting  sagebrush,  the  desert  and  solitude, 
meant  civilization  and  a  future  market  for  crops  and 
cattle. 

Montrose  and  Collbran  are  separated  by  the  Grand  Mesa, 
known  as  the  Mesa  of  a  Hundred  Lakes,  which  forms  the 
horizon  line  for  miles.  In  spite  of  this  situation  the  settle¬ 
ment  of  Collbran,  at  the  foot  of  the  western  slope  of  Grand 
Mesa,  and  that  of  Montrose,  in  the  valley  at  the  foot  of 
the  eastern  slope,  up  to  a  certain  period  developed  along 
identical  lines.  It  was,  as  will  be  seen,  a  topographical  di-  ' 
vision  that  brought  the  railroad  to  one  town  and  increased 
the  isolation  of  the  other.  They  were  formed  about  the 
same  time  by  the  same  type  of  settlers.  They  enjoy  the 
same  physical  and  natural  advantages,  and  up  to  a  certain 
period  they  developed  the  same  problems.  These  home¬ 
steaders  from  the  East  found  rich  black  loam  for  their 
crops  and  pastures  for  their  cattle,  but  it  was  hard,  pioneer 
life.  Long  hours  and  seven  days  a  week  were  needed  to 
clear  away  the  sagebrush  and  provide  the  means  of  exist¬ 
ence.  The  church-going  habit  that  many  of  these  pioneers 
should  have  inherited  from  their  fathers  was  lost.  Their 
god  was  work.  But  now  the  battle  has  been  won.  The 
desert  is  reclaimed ;  the  valleys  are  rich  with  fruit,  alfalfa 
and  potatoes;  on  the  mountains  and  mesas  graze  herds  of 
fine  cattle,  and  in  the  heart  of  these  mountains  are  stores 
of  gold,  radium  and  coal.  The  first  settlers  went  into 
Colorado  for  gold,  but  to-day  the  annual  output  of  the  state’s 


THE  LARGER  PARISH  69 

irrigated  farms  is  more  than  ten  times  as  great  as  that  of  its 
gold  mines. 


COLLBRAN 

Collbran,  the  geographic  center  of  Plateau  Valley,  nestles 
in  the  great  horseshoe  bend  of  Battlement  Mesa  Forest, 
six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the  western  slope  of 
Grand  Mesa.  The  village  itself  is  flat  and  uninteresting: 
“it  just  growed,”  and  its  appearance  is  typical  of  its  growth. 
A  man  named  George  Hall  staked  the  first  claim  and  built 
a  store  near  the  creek  which  now  runs  through  the  town. 
Englehart  and  Parkinson  in  their  turn  built  a  store  with  a 
hall  over  it.  A  blacksmith  named  Gillum  settled  near  the’ 
creek.  Later  a  schoolhouse  was  built,  a  hotel,  a  post-office 
and  in  recent  years  the  church,  the  bank,  an  auditorium,  a 
community  house  and  now  a  union  high  school.  Except  by 
stage,  Collbran  is  unconnected  with  the  outside  world. 
DeBeque,  the  nearest  railroad  station,  is  twenty-five  miles 
away,  and  Grand  Junction,  the  distributing  center  of  that 
section,  is  forty-five  miles  distant  and  reached  only  by  a 
winding  canyon  road.  Protected,  with  no  competition  and 
no  exposure  to  outside  influences,  Collbran  developed  into 
a  static  community,  non-churchgoing  and  non-social. 

Life  in  Plateau  Valley,  however,  is  picturesque,  Ameri¬ 
can  and  exclusively  rural.  Men  prefer  horses  to  automo¬ 
biles  and  still  wear  the  big-four  Stetson  and  the  red  ban¬ 
danna.  Of  the  three  thousand  inhabitants,  Joe  Jim  and  his 
wife,  Ute  Indians,  are  the  only  reminders  of  the  earlier 
civilization.  Of  these  three  thousand  people,  95  per  cent, 
of  whom  are  American  born,  twenty-two  hundred  live  on 
ranches  or  farms;  fewer  than  six  hundred  live  in  the  vil¬ 
lages  of  Collbran,  Mesa,  Plateau  City  and  Molina;  the 
others  live  in  small  communities  called  Basins. 

The  church  had  little  influence  in  the  development  of  the 
valley  in  pioneer  days,  and  up  to  two  years  ago  found  itself 
making  not  even  a  dent  in  the  every-day  life  of  the  valley. 

It  had  trained  no  leaders ;  it  had  no  way  of  proving  its 
practical  and  spiritual  worth  in  the  community. 


70 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


MONTROSE 

From  the  time  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railroad 
crosses  Marshall  Pass  and  crawls  slowly  down  the  moun¬ 
tains  in  great  horseshoe  curves  to  Montrose,  distant  peaks 
and  canyons  are  pointed  out  to  the  traveler.  There  is 
Ouray,  the  Switzerland  of  America  and  the  beauty  spot  of 
the  San  Juan  mountains.  To  the  south  and  west  are  Verde 
National  Park  and  the  Cliff  Dwellers’  Ruins,  and  westward, 
just  outside  of  Montrose,  is  the  Gunnison  Tunnel,  the  larg¬ 
est  irrigation  tunnel  in  the  world.  As  in  Collbran,  the 
Grand  Mesa  is  a  striking  feature  of  the  horizon.  As  the 
train  pulls  into  the  station  at  Montrose,  modern  and  at¬ 
tractive,  with  its  wide  concrete  street  and  its  ornamental 
lighting  stretching  through  the  center  of  the  town,  it  is 
difficult  to  realize  that  it  was  only  in  1883  that  “the  whistle 
of  the  first  engine”  was  heard  in  this  region.  With  the 
railroad  came  exposure  to  outside  influences  and  contacts. 
It  was  followed  by  a  continual  influx  of  new  settlers  that 
has  resulted  in  a  population  of  thirty-five  hundred  as  com¬ 
pared  with  Collbran’s  three  hundred.  It  made  Montrose 
accessible  for  three  hundred  foreigners,  while  Collbran  drew 
none. 

With  this  influx  came  people  of  varying  desires  and 
ambitions,  out  of  whose  presence  grew  the  over-organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  town  socially  and  religiously.  The  church  at  this 
time,  instead  of  being  a  socializing  force,  had  become  un¬ 
social  and  parochial  in  its  outlook.  It  reflected  the  selfish 
aims  of  its  small  congregations  and  stood  in  the  way  of 
cooperation. 

Grand  Mesa,  great  divide  that  it  is,  gives  to  one  town  all 
the  opportunities  of  intercourse  and  contact  with  a  pro¬ 
gressive  world  and  shuts  away  another  from  all  these 
advantages. 

Yet  social  and  religious  conditions  in  both  were  prac¬ 
tically  identical,  lacking  leadership  and  cooperation.  Both 
started  in  the  same  way,  settled  by  people  in  search  of  a 
new  home,  developed  by  people  who  found  that  home  worth 
having.  Collbran  and  Montrose  were  founded  and  de- 


THE  LARGER  PARISH 


71 


veloped  together.  Collbran  stood  still  while  Montrose  grew, 
but  in  growing  Montrose  became  merely  a  collection  of 
Collbrans. 

To  these  two  churches,  one  static,  making  no  inroad  upon 
the  life  of  the  community  and  the  other  limited  in  its  out¬ 
look,  came  the  vision  of  something  new  and  of  greater 
service — the  vision  of  serving,  in  addition  to  their  im¬ 
mediate  communities,  the  people  in  the  outlying  communi¬ 
ties,  in  religious,  educational,  social  and  recreational  lines; 
the  vision  of  a  larger  parish. 

THE  PLAN 

The  larger  parish  plan  as  it  is  to-day  is  a  plan  which 
“specializes  in  a  ministry  over  areas  as  well  as  churches.” 
It  is  a  plan  by  which  a  church  at  the  center  of  a  wide  area 
with  a  scattered  population  can  serve  that  population  by 
sharing  with  it  the  advantages  of  its  equipment  and  its 
personnel. 

The  program  is  determined  by  the  needs  of  the  com¬ 
munity.  It  is,  therefore,  elastic  and  may  be  applied  suc¬ 
cessfully  with  equal  value  to  varied  situations.  But  the 
objectives  of  the  plan  and  its  basic  methods  are  everywhere 
similar.  It  calls  for  the  centering  of  the  work  of  the  area 
at  one  point,  from  which  the  work  is  extended  throughout 
the  territory.  It  calls  for  more  than  one  worker.  For¬ 
merly  several  ministers  lived  at  the  center  from  which  they 
went  out  to  the  churches  on  their  circuit.  Preaching  was 
the  beginning  and  end  of  their  program.  Under  the  larger 
parish  plan,  instead  of  these  several  ministers  of  dif¬ 
ferent  denominations  giving  intermittent  attention  to  their 
churches,  there  are  several  workers  of  one  denomination 
integrated  in  one  staff  carrying  a  social  and  individual  min¬ 
istry  throughout  the  entire  area.  What  this  ministry  shall 
be,  especially  on  its  social  side,  depends  on  the  community, 
the  local  leadership,  the  general  religious  situation.  In  a 
well-developed  community,  with  an  excellently  equipped 
consolidated  high  school,  with  a  social  vision,  the  program 
is  different  from  the  program  in  a  place  where  there  is 


72 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


nothing  or  next  to  nothing  save  the  church.  But  always 
the  ideal  is  to  serve  the  whole  area  and  all  within  it,  to 
meet  all  unmet  religious  and  socio-religious  needs. 

A  larger  parish  plan  demands  from  the  community  in¬ 
terest,  a  willingness  to  cooperate,  and  financial  support.  It 
is  a  plan  that  takes  years  to  prove — “an  ideal  to  be  worked 
toward  rather  than  to  be  fully  attained.”  As  the  years  roll 
on  it  becomes  ever  more  clear  that  people  of  all  faiths  can 
cooperate  and  that  the  plan  is  demonstrating  what  can  be 
done  in  a  selected  parish  with  adequate  equipment,  per¬ 
sonnel  and  finance. 

This  chapter,  then,  tells  the  story  of  the  application  of 
this  flexible  plan  to  two  different  communities.  It  shows 
that  things  quite  often  attempted  only  in  more  closely  knit 
and  densely  populated  localities  can  be  applied  to  whole 
areas  when  there  is  the  proper  integration  of  staff  and  the 
proper  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

THE  PLAN  IN  PRACTICE 

When  this  larger  parish  plan  came  to  these  two  parishes 
separated  by  Grand  Mesa,  at  the  request  of  the  people  them¬ 
selves  through  the  proper  channels  of  the  Congregational 
Church  and  its  Home  Mission  Board,  it  brought  solutions 
peculiar  to  the  needs  of  each.  Collbran,  isolated  from  the 
world,  had  the  problem  of  setting  its  rusty  wheels  to  work 
and  following  up  and  expanding  the  work  started  by  its  * 
early  leaders.  Montrose,  on  the  other  side  of  Grand  Mesa, 
had  a  more  elaborate  set  of  problems.  Because  of  its  ex¬ 
posure  to  the  outside  world  it  had  acquired  all  the  ills  of 
over-churching  due  to  over-socializing  forces.  It  had  to 
enlist  new  interest  in  conditions  outside  of  the  boundary  of 
the  town;  it  had  to  create  a  spirit  of  cooperation  between 
town  and  country.  The  larger  parish  plan  was  able  to  solve 
these  two  separate  or  dissimilar  sets  of  problems. 

Collbran  and  Montrose  people  as  the  larger  vision  and 
plan  developed  became  interested  not  only  in  the  plan  but  in 
their  part  in  carrying  out  of  the  plan.  They  began  to  say 
“only  the  best  is  good  enough  for  us” — the  best  in  equip- 


PICNIC  OF  THE  PLEASANT  VIEW  SUNDAY  SCHOOL,  COLLBRAN 


THE  LARGER  PARISH 


73 


ment  and  in  personnel.  If  the  early  leaders  who  had  grad¬ 
ually  widened  the  scope  of  their  ministry  by  conducting 
preaching  services  and  Sunday  school  in  surrounding  com¬ 
munities  had  been  supported  by  this  enthusiasm,  they  need 
not  have  gone  alone  Sunday  after  Sunday,  but  could  have 
been  accompanied  by  laymen  filled  with  a  desire  to  carry 
this  extended  ministry  still  farther. 

That  this  is  true  was  soon  proven,  for  the  little  church 
was  no  longer  adequate  for  Collbran’s  needs.  It  was  a  one- 
room,  one-day-a-week  church,  with  no  equipment  for  work 
outside  of  the  village. 

Montrose  was  planning  a  new  building,  and  to  the  plans 
were  added  a  gymnasium  and  clubrooms  for  community 
service.  The  church  was  able  to  undertake  this  building 
project  alone,  but  received  aid  from  the  Congregational 
Home  Mission  Society  for  an  extension  secretary  and  equip¬ 
ment.  Collbran  needed  aid  for  both  a  building  and  equip¬ 
ment,  and  this  was  given  after  a  survey  had  been  made. 
Collbran  people  contributed  in  cash,  paint,  work  and  keen 
interest. 

The  community  house,  which  is  attached  to  Collbran 
church,  includes  a  library  for  the  use  of  all,  a  boy’s  club- 
room,  a  men’s  clubroom,  an  office,  a  gymnasium  to  be  used 
also  as  an  auditorium,  two  shower-rooms,  a  bowling-alley, 
a  dining-room  and  kitchen. 

More  than  one  worker  is  essential  to  a  large  parish,  for 
Plateau  Valley,  the  larger  of  the  two,  embraces  one  hundred 
and  fifty  square  miles,  and  both  parishes  are  in  a  country 
where  distances  are  great  and  communities  isolated.  The 
Montrose  staff  consists  of  a  minister,  in  charge  of  the  Con¬ 
gregational  Church  at  the  center,  a  full  time  business  secre¬ 
tary,  a  gymnasium  director  and  an  extension  secretary.  In 
Collbran  there  are  two  ministers,  one  in  charge  of  the  church 
at  the  center  and  one  the  director  of  the  larger  parish. 

These  workers  are  aided  by  four  cars,  in  Collbran,  a  Reo 
Speed  Wagon  and  two  Fords,  and  in  Montrose  a  Ford  built 
to  carry  a  Delco  Motor  and  a  portable  picture  machine. 

In  the  division  of  the  work  in  these  parishes  the  ministers 
at  the  centers  have  full  charge  of  the  Congregational 


74 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


churches  there.  In  Collbran  the  director  of  the  larger  parish 
has  charge  of  all  the  extension  activities.  His  headquarters 
are  at  the  community  house  and  of  this  house  he  has  full 
charge — its  upkeep,  its  program,  the  financing  of  the  larger 
parish  and  the  holding  of  religious  and  socio-religious  serv¬ 
ices  at  the  extension  points.  It  is  a  ministerial  partnership. 

In  Montrose  the  minister  at  the  center  has  charge  not  only 
of  the  Montrose  church  but  has  general  supervision  of  the 
extension  work,  which  he  and  the  extension  secretary  carry 
out  together. 

With  this  equipment  was  begun  the  task  of  ministering 
over  areas  as  well  as  churches,  of  serving  all  the  people  and 
all  their  interests. 


QUICKENING  INTEREST 

In  all  of  Plateau  Valley  and  the  outlying  districts  of 
Montrose,  the  early  pioneers  who  had  had  the  habit  of 
church  attendance  had  lost  it.  The  new  generation  never 
formed  it,  but  the  people  in  these  valleys  are  friendly,  and 
interest  and  better  attendance  are  coming  as  the  church 
proves  itself.  The  program  of  the  larger  parish,  as  broad 
as  the  valley,  is  overcoming  the  accumulated  indifference  of 
years. 

In  Collbran  the  Congregational  church,  before  the  new 
program  was  in  operation,  had  twenty-five  members.  To¬ 
day,  two  years  after  the  inauguration  of  the  program,  the 
roll  tells  a  different  story— one  hundred  and  three  members, 
eighty-nine  of  them  resident,  a  net  gain  of  thirty-one  in 
1921. 

The  spirit  of  the  community  has  already  changed.  In 
earlier  days  if  a  man  went  to  church  he  was  laughed  at  by 
other  men.  But  when  thirty-two  men  were  needed  to  solicit 
funds  for  the  program  in  1922  not  one  man  refused.  On 
one  team  were  a  Roman  Catholic  and  an  ex-Methodist  min¬ 
ister,  and  one  man,  not  a  church  member,  declared  that  ‘fit 
was  no  longer  embarrasing  to  canvass  for  the  church  in 
Plateau  Valley.”  It  was  an  every-family  canvass,  seeking 
community  support  rather  than  support  from  church  mem- 


THE  LARGER  PARISH  75 

bers  only,  and  50  per  cent,  of  the  total  subscription  for  1922 
was  from  non-members. 

In  Montrose,  the  community  service  ideal  has  interested 
a  group  of  followers  almost  as  large  as  the  church  mem¬ 
bership,  who  support  the  program  financially  and  in  per¬ 
sonal  effort.  This  group,  with  the  church  members,  control 
four-fifths  of  the  financial  support  of  the  town ;  they  are 
represented  by  three  out  of  four  on  the  school  board,  by  a 
large  majority  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  in  the 
Rotary  Club  by  all  but  five  out  of  a  membership  of  thirty- 
three. 

In  1921,  the  net  gain  in  church  membership  was  forty- 
nine,  making  a  total  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-two,  and 
of  the  two  hundred  and  forty  pledges  secured  on  the  every- 
member  canvass,  one  hundred  and  twenty,  equaling  43.25 
per  cent,  of  the  total  subscriptions,  were  made  by  non¬ 
members. 


THE  CHURCH  PROGRAMS 

Both  churches  have  programs  in  which  each  group  has 
a  part.  On  Sunday  each  has  a  morning  and  evening  service, 
and  in  each  case  the  evening  service  is  the  more  popular. 
In  Collbran  it  is  of  interest  to  the  entire  community,  as  for 
instance,  an  illustrated  lecture  on  “The  Passion  Play,”  and 
in  Montrose  usually  a  moving-picture  with  a  short  address, 
interesting  to  both  old  and  young.  The  programs  of  two 
Sundays  evenings  will  illustrate.  Both  opened  with  congre¬ 
gational  singing,  followed  in  one  by  a  Farm  Bureau  picture 
showing  the  advantages  of  consulting  a  trained  man.  Be¬ 
tween  Parts  1  and  2  of  the  picture  was  a  short  address. 
The  pictures  used  at  these  services  are  not  always  religious, 
but  have  good  moral  and  educational  values.  The  second 
service  was  quite  different.  The  program  opened  with  a 
fifteen-minute  organ  recital,  followed  by  congregational 
singing  and  practical  questions  and  demonstrations  for  the 
benefit  of  the  young  people  in  the  front  row. 

In  Collbran  a  Children’s  Church  is  held  each  Sunday 
between  the  Sunday  school  and  the  morning  worship,  and 


76 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


in  both  churches  the  Sunday  school  is  active,  well-equipped 
with  both  rooms  and  materials.  The  Vacation  Bible  School 
supplements  the  Sunday  school  work  in  Collbran.  Here, 
too,  the  Christian  Endeavor  is  particularly  active,  drawing 
young  people  from  all  parts  of  the  parish.  These  young 
people  have  done  especially  good  work  in  conducting  re¬ 
ligious  meetings  at  outlying  points,  thereby  extending  the 
larger  parish  activities  and  in  arranging  a  course  on  voca¬ 
tional  guidance.  The  doctor,  the  nurse,  the  banker  and  the 
lawyer  each  gave  a  lecture  on  their  profession  to  help  these 
young  people  decide  upon  their  secular  pursuits,  while  the 
church,  in  giving  them  charge  of  a  Western  Slope  Confer¬ 
ence,  entertained  at  Collbran,  gave  them  a  taste  of  religious 
leadership. 

Socially  the  week  at  the  Collbran  community  house  is 
full.  The  Scout  Troop  has  its  regular  meeting  in  the  boys’ 
room,  which  is  also  headquarters  for  a  young  men’s  Bible 
class.  The  troop  is  well  led  and  is  making  a  place  for  the 
boys  in  the  community.  The  biggest  event  of  last  year  was 
the  Junior  Rodeo,  a  small  edition  of  the  biggest  event  of 
Plateau  Valley.  It  was  thus  described  in  the  Plateau  Voice: 
“It  came  and  went  in  a  blaze  of  glory  and  the  junior  cow¬ 
boy  talent  of  Collbran  and  vicinity  has  done  their  ‘dads’ 
proud.”  A  radio-phone  outfit  has  been  ordered,  and  news 
and  stock  bulletins  will  be  issued  daily. 

The  men’s  club  meets  every  week  during  the  summer  and 
every  other  week  in  the  winter  for  chess,  checkers,  pool  and 
billiards,  and  a  special  feature  such  as  a  movie  or  a  talk 
from  a  man  from  outside.  The  central  purpose  of  the  club 
is  social,  with  the  “good  of  the  church”  as  one  of  its  recog¬ 
nized  aims.  Men  from' all  parts  of  the  valley  attend — men 
of  all  creeds  and  of  none. 

An  anti-fat  class  for  ladies  meets  three  times  a  week  in 
the  assembly  room,  members  following  exercises  to  music. 
Every  Friday  a  feature  moving-picture  is  shown  in  the  same 
room.  The  Ladies’  Aids  in  both  places  are  interested  in 
the  usual  activities  of  Aids  and  are  the  home-makers  of 
the  churches.  In  Montrose  the  organization  is  called  the 
Women’s  Union  and  includes  all  women  interested,  non- 


THE  LARGER  PARISH 


77 


members  or  members.  The  membership  is  divided  into  nine 
parts  called  circles,  the  chairman  of  which,  with  the  of¬ 
ficers,  constitute  the  Executive  Board.  There  are  two  meet¬ 
ings  a  month,  one  a  missionary  meeting  in  charge  of  the 
Missionary  Committee,  the  other  social. 

A  daily  program  of  the  activities  of  the  Collbran  com¬ 
munity  house  shows  how  truly  it  is  a  community  center : 


Morning : 
Afternoon : 


Evening : 


Monday : 
Tuesday: 
Wednesday : 

Thursday : 
Friday : 
Saturday : 
Sunday : 


Office  hours  of  pastor  and  extension  director 
Club  room  and  women’s  rest  room  open 

Women’s  rest  room  open 

Men’s  club  room  open 

Billiard  room  open,  1  to  5.30 

Reading  room  open,  1  to  5.30 

Library  open  for  drawing  books,  3.30  to  5 

Assembly  room  always  available 

Men’s  and  women’s  rooms  open 
Reading  room  open,  7  to  9 
Billiard  room  open,  7  to  9 

Schedule  of  Meetings 
Teachers’  Training  Class,  7.30 
Scouts,  7.30 

Fortnightly-afternoon-Ladies’  Aid 
Christian  Endeavor,  7.30 
Men’s  Club,  8.00 

Choir  practice,  7.30 

Community  night  entertainment 

Camp  Fire  Girls,  2  P.M. 

Sunday  school 
Children’s  church 
Worship  nursery 
Morning  worship 
Evening  worship 


78 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


In  Montrose  the  activities  of  the  gymnasium  take  a  big 
place  in  the  program.  It  is  accessible  to  every  one  in  the 
larger  parish  and  to  the  young  people  in  Montrose.  No 
charge  is  made,  the  only  qualification  being  regular  attend¬ 
ance  in  their  respective  schools.  The  physical  director  is 
in  charge  and  has  on  an  average  twenty  classes  a  week. 
Competitive  athletics  have  been  organized  between  classes 
of  the  Sunday  school  and  other  Sunday  schools  of  the  town. 

WORKING  WITH  THE  COMMUNITY 

Both  churches  fit  as  a  whole  into  community  programs. 
Agriculture  is  promoted  through  the  Extension  Department 
which  aids  the  county  agent  in  his  drive  for  Farm  Bureau 
memberships;  education  is  fostered  by  the  cooperation  of 
the  churches  in  securing  Chautauquas,  lectures  and  musical 
features;  in  Montrose  a  program  of  relief  is  carried  out 
through  a  Young  Women’s  Bible  Class  at  the  County 
Home. 

The  Collbran  church  regards  itself  as  a  part  of  the  World 
Kingdom  and  supports  missionary  representatives  in  the 
foreign  field.  The  work  of  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Leonard 
Christian,  in  Foochow,  China,  is  supported  by  contributions 
from  the  parish.  Collbran  also  has  a  personal  interest  in 
home  work  through  Mr.  Fred  White,  in  Florence,  Ala. 

At  home  the  Red  Cross  drive  for  Plateau  Valley  was 
conducted  by  the  church.  Church  leaders  were  instru¬ 
mental  in  securing  the  Chautauqua ;  they  were  interested  in 
clean-up  week  and  children’s  week.  They  work  coopera¬ 
tively  with  the  Farm  Bureau  and  plan  next  year  to  operate 
a  labor  exchange  in  haying  time,  and  to  furnish  hot  lunches 
for  those  school  children  who  come  long  distances.  A  com¬ 
munity  park  with  playground  for  little  children,  a  tennis 
court  for  adults,  and  a  meeting  ground  for  outdoor  services 
are  being  prepared.  These  improvements  have  come  about 
as  a  direct  result  of  the  interest  of  Collbran’s  leaders  in  the 
larger  parish  program.  These  people  had  been  thinking  and 
planning  on  a  large  scale  for  years  in  terms  of  steers  and 
irrigation;  now  they  are  also  thinking  on  the  same  scale  of 


THE  LARGER  PARISH 


79 


the  church  and  the  well-being  of  their  community.  From 
this  center  the  director  of  the  larger  parish  plan  sets  out  to 
transplant  the  new  interest  and  enthusiasm  to  eight  isolated 
basins  and  valleys  in  the  hope  that  history  will  repeat  itself 
on  a  smaller  scale  in  each  community. 

One  of  the  most  significant  events  in  the  history  of  the 
larger  parish  was  the  surrender  of  the  work  at  Plateau 
City  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Conference  at  the  inaugura¬ 
tion  of  the  larger  parish  program.  A  Congregational  church 
was  organized  with  the  full  consent  and  approval  of  both 
the  District  Superintendent  and  the  local  congregation.  The 
extension  director  is  minister  of  this  church.  It  is  an  inde¬ 
pendent  church  with  a  preaching  service  and  an  organized 
Sunday  school  of  its  own,  but  nevertheless  a  part  of  the 
larger  parish  in  interest  and  in  its  financial  support. 

EXTENSION  WORK 

In  addition  to  the  work  at  Collbran  and  Plateau  City,  the 
extension  director  preaches  fortnightly  at  two  places,  con¬ 
ducts  organized  Sunday  schools  at  three  others,  and  has 
organized  a  Christian  Endeavor.  In  several  of  the  basin 
day  schools  he  is  carrying  out  successfully  a  week-day  re¬ 
ligious  program,  giving  also  instructions  in  physical  train¬ 
ing  and  public  school  music,  distributing  library  books,  using 
visual  instruction  through  the  use  of  Perry  prints  and  oc¬ 
casionally  taking  his  portable  Acme  and  showing  educational 
films.  The  latest  plan  for  extension  work  includes  the  ordi¬ 
nation  of  “lay  preachers”  with  the  adoption  of  the  slogan 
“one  service  in  every  schoolhouse  each  month.” 

The  ministers  in  larger  parish  work  have  need  of  all  their 
enthusiasm  and  faith.  The  events  of  a  not  very  exceptional 
day  in  the  life  of  the  director  of  the  larger  parish  illustrates 
this:  “He  began  the  day  (a  Sunday)  preparing  the  Collbran 
church  and  community  house  for  services,  Sunday  school, 
worship  nursery;  at  ten-thirty  he  drove  to  Plateau  City  to 
conduct  morning  service  and  Sunday  school.  At  two  o’clock 
he  changed  from  janitor  and  preacher  to  an  assistant  under¬ 
taker,  bringing  a  casket  to  a  funeral  service  and  to  the 


80 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


cemetery.  At  three-thirty  he  held  a  Sunday  school  at  Pleas¬ 
ant  View.  At  seven-thirty  he  became  a  chorister,  helping 
with  the  music  of  the  evening  service.  During  the  worship, 
a  man  came  in  to  say  that  an  old  man  had  been  seriously 
hurt  when  some  horses  ran  away.  The  truck  became  an 
ambulance  and  carried  the  dying  man  to  the  nearest  hospital 
in  Grand  Junction,  forty-five  miles  away.” 

Into  five  neighborhoods  the  minister  of  the  Montrose 
church,  with  the  extension  secretary,  has  gone  with  preach¬ 
ing  services,  Sunday  school  or  community  programs,  and  in 
some  cases  with  all  three.  A  characteristic  community  pro¬ 
gram  on  the  subject,  say,  of  “Better  Roads,”  would  run 
somewhat  as  follows:  “Community  singing;  three  five- 
minute  talks  on  ‘How  to  Improve  the  Roads  in  Our  Com¬ 
munity’  ;  one-reel  movie,  entitled  ‘Gravel-Road  Construc¬ 
tion’  ;  one-reel  movie,  ‘Jack  and  the  Beanstalk.’  ”  At  other 
times  the  program  may  be  purely  social,  with  the  man  from 
the  center  acting  as  social  engineer. 

ELASTICITY  THE  KEYNOTE 

To  some  friends  the  larger  parish  director  wrote:  “If 
success  is  measured  by  the  distance  traveled  rather  than 
the  point  attained,  then  this  work  has  been  abundantly  suc¬ 
cessful.  It  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  a  spot  where 
organized  religion  was  of  so  little  concern  to  the  people  in 
general  as  in  this  valley  three  years  ago.” 

One  of  the  values  of  the  larger  parish  plan,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  is  the  elasticity  of  its  program  in  meeting  the 
needs  at  hand ;  its  adaptability  to  competitive  and  non-com¬ 
petitive  situations.  The  Plateau  Valley  larger  parish  has  a 
clear  field  with  no  conflicting  social  or  religious  forces.  But 
the  plan  at  Montrose  has  a  competitive  field  shared  by  many 
denominations  and  agencies,  and  is  trying  to  shoulder  its 
responsibility  in  the  solving  of  a  general  problem  of  develop¬ 
ing  spirit,  increasing  efficiency  and  stimulating  ideals  within 
the  outlying  communities. 

Such  is  the  new  type  of  ministry  attempted  by  this  twen¬ 
tieth  century  version  of  the  old-time  circuit — a  ministry 


THE  LARGER  PARISH 


81 


which  serves  an  entire  area,  not  simply  parishioners  within 
it ;  which  has  substituted  the  auto  for  the  horse  and  saddle¬ 
bags  ;  which  is  meeting  men  on  the  level  where  they  live  and 
work,  and  which  is  gradually  supplanting  a  weak  and  in¬ 
conclusive  program  with  a  virile  and  comprehensive  Chris¬ 
tianity  that  compels  the  attention  of  townsman  and  cowboy 
alike. 


Chapter  VII 

AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE 

THE  PIMA  MISSION  AT  SACATON,  ARIZONA 

A  church  that  has  made  itself  the  focal  point  of  an  Indian 
tribe. 

A  church  which  has  entered  into  the  whole  life  of  its 
people  is  the  Presbyterian,  at  work  among  the  Pima  Indians 
in  Arizona,  centering  at  Sacaton.  The  leaders  of  this  work, 
both  Indian  and  white,  have,  in  fifty  years,  led  a  whole 
tribe  from  semi-barbarism  into  a  Christian  community. 
The  results  show  the  aptitude  of  the  Indians  for  Christian 
civilization,  if  Christian  ideas  and  ideals  are  presented  in 
the  right  way.  The  field  takes  in  four  hundred  and  six 
square  miles,  all  of  the  Gila  River  and  part  of  the  Papago 
reservations.  The  mission  has  grown  until  it  now  includes 
nine  churches  and  stations  scattered  over  this  area.  The 
white  missionary  in  charge  has  nine  full-time  Indian  helpers 
and  one  part-time  man. 

A  BOLD  PIONEER 

The  beginnings  of  this  enterprise  were  a  far  cry  indeed 
from  the  mission  as  it  is  to-day,  with  its  more  than  thirteen 
hundred  members.  Fifty-three  years  ago  young  Charles  H. 
Cook  started  the  work  on  his  own  responsibility.  The  mis¬ 
sion  boards  had  no  money  for  such  an  enterprise,  for  Indian 
affairs  in  Arizona  were  at  that  time  in  a  very  unsettled  state. 
The  Government  at  Washington  warned  him  that  it  would 
be  dangerous  to  go.  But  Cook  went,  working  his  way  out 
and  preaching  whenever  opportunity  offered.  He  arrived  at 
the  Agency  on  December  23,  1870,  with  two  dollars  in  his 

pocket.  On  January  1st,  he  was  on  the  pay-roll  of  the 

82 


AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE 


83 


Government  as  a  teacher  with  a  salary  of  $1,000  and  all 
expenses  paid,  a  good  income  for  those  days. 

From  that  time  until  he  was  an  old  man,  Cook  worked 
with  the  Pimas.  During  the  earlier  years  he  could  do  his 
mission  work  only  on  Sundays  and  at  night,  for  he  had  to 
earn  his  living  on  week-days.  It  was  after  he  had  been 
working  on  the  reservation  about  eight  years  that  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Board  undertook  his  support  so  that  he  was  able 
to  devote  all  his  time  to  the  mission  work.  At  first  he 
talked  and  preached  out  in  the  fields,  because  it  was  there 
that  he  found  the  Indians.  Sometimes  he  would  talk  in  the 
little  round  dwelling-places  called  “kihs,”  where  one  must 
stoop  to  enter  and  sit  with  lowered  head  because  of  the 
smoke.  Sometimes  he  preached  in  the  village  counsel- 
houses,  and  if  the  people  were  friendly,  the  village  captain 
or  sub-chief  would  call  them  together  for  the  meeting.  His 
addresses  were  always  interpreted  during  the  first  years,  but 
he  studied  the  language  and  worked  out  for  himself  a  dic¬ 
tionary  of  Pima  words,  so  that  before  long  the  Indians 
could  understand  him.  He  taught  much  and  he  won  the 
children  at  first  by  giving  them  cubes  of  sugar  and  pieces  of 
bread.  “That’s  the  way  he  catch  ’em,”  said  an  old  Indian. 
As  soon  as  the  children  learned  English,  they  could  interpret 
for  him. 

Cook’s  courage  and  patience  were  proof  against  all  dis¬ 
couragement.  It  was  twelve  years  before  he  made  his  first 
convert  and  nineteen  years  before  his  first  church  was  or¬ 
ganized.  The  work  grew  by  the  conversion  of  one  Indian 
here,  another  there,  then  a  whole  family,  then  several 
families.  The  next  step  would  be  the  organization  of  a 
church.  So  it  went.  The  first  church  was  organized  at 
Sacaton  on  April  3,  1889.  The  Gila  Crossing  Church  was 
organized  in  1894,  the  Blackwater  in  1900,  and  the  two 
other  churches,  Casa  Blanca  and  Maricopa,  were  organized 
in  1902. 

Cook  ministered  to  the  whole  man.  He  taught  the  Pimas 
the  simple  story  of  Christ,  and  he  also  taught  them  better 
ways  of  living;  he  worked  to  protect  their  water  rights  just 
as  faithfully  as  he  preached  the  Ten  Commandments.  The 


84 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Pimas  grew  to  love  and  trust  this  earnest  white  man,  and 
gradually  began  to  take  all  their  problems  to  him  and  to 
put  his  words  into  practice.  As  a  result  of  his  wise  deal¬ 
ings  with  these  people  the  church  to-day  is  so  woven  into 
their  lives  that  one  cannot  mark  the  place  where  its  influence 
begins  or  where  it  leaves  off. 

THE  INDIANS’  LAND - AND  WATER 

The  land  of  the  Pimas  is  sandy  desert  country,  fertile, 
indeed,  with  water,  but  absolutely  unproductive  without  it. 
The  water  question  has  been  a  burning  one  for  years,  for 
the  Indians  are  dependent  for  their  living  upon  the  land. 
From  prehistoric  times  they  have  understood  the  practice  of 
irrigation,  the  Gila  River  affording  plenty  of  water  for  their 
needs.  But  as  the  white  men  settled  in  the  valley  far 
above,  they  gradually  diverted  the  water  to  their  own  use. 
In  the  days  when  the  Apache  was  on  the  war  path,  the 
Pimas  helped  to  protect  the  white  man,  but  when  those 
dangerous  days  were  over  the  white  man  expressed  his 
gratitude  by  taking  the  Indians’  water.  Some  wells  were 
put  in  which  provided  water  for  part  but  not  all  of  the 
reservation.  Many  of  the  Indians  have  had  one  crop  failure 
after  another,  year  after  year.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the 
Indian  says:  “When  the  white  man  begins,  he  takes  all”? 
Charles  H.  Cook,  however,  was  one  white  man  who  never 
let  the  Government  or  the  public  forget  the  injustices  done 
to  the  Pimas.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  had  not  this  guardian 
of  their  interests  been  at  hand  to  checkmate  these  efforts 
to  despoil  the  Pimas  of  their  heritage,  they  would  long  ago 
have  been  objects  of  charity. 

It  was  a  long  hard  fight,  but  as  a  result  of  years  of  agi¬ 
tation,  effective  measures  have  at  last  been  taken  to  secure 
adequate  water  for  the  Pimas.  In  1921,  a  dam  across  the 
Gila  River  above  Florence  was  completed  and  a  smaller 
dam  is  now  being  constructed  across  the  Gila  River  near 
Sacaton.  These  diversion  dams  will  help,  but  the  water 
question  will  not  be  finally  settled  until  the  Government 
builds  a  reservoir  for  the  impounding  of  the  flood  waters. 


AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE 


85 


This  will  be  the  San  Carlos  reservoir  which  has  been  con¬ 
sidered  for  so  many  years.  “Cook  agitated  the  Pima’s  need 
and  laid  the  foundation  for  the  remedy  of  that  need;  the 
work  that  he  did  pointed  the  way  to  what  was  needed,” 
said  the  present  secretary  of  the  Indian  Rights  Association. 

Dr.  Cook  also  fought  to  keep  the  Pimas’  land  for  the 
Pimas,  and  his  successor  has  carried  on  the  struggle.  Much 
of  the  1,200,017  acres  of  the  Gila  River  reservation  is 
irrigable,  valuable  land,  and  because  of  the  adaptability  of 
this  land  to  the  growth  of  long  staple  cotton,  the  whites  have 
coveted  it.  At  one  time  there  was  a  plan  on  foot  to  move 
all  the  Indians  into  one  district  and  appropriate  the  best  of 
their  land.  But  through  the  efforts  of  Cook  and  other 
friends  of  the  Pimas  whose  aid  he  enlisted,  this  plan  was 
frustrated. 

Another  attempted  injustice  was  prevented  recently  by 
Dr.  Cook’s  successor,  the  present  missionary,  Dr.  Lay.  The 
Pimas  first  heard  of  a  scheme  to  lease  fifty  thousand  acres 
of  their  land  in  January,  1920.  Under  this  lease  the  Indian 
was  to  be  deprived  of  the  use  of  his  allotment,  consisting 
of  twenty  acres  for  each  member  of  the  tribe,  was  to  wait 
ten  years  before  he  received  any  “rental”  under  the  terms 
of  the  original  lease,  and  was  to  have  no  voice  in  saying 
whether  the  lease  should  be  renewed.  Dr.  Lay  called  the 
Indians  together  from  all  over  the  reservation  to  talk  about 
the  lease.  He  told  them  how  the  Sioux  had  started  leasing 
and  now  had  very  little  land  left,  and  pointed  out  that  when 
the  white  man  gets  a  good  start  on  a  reservation,  he  is 
likely  to  end  up  by  taking  the  whole  thing.  The  situation 
was  fully  discussed,  and  when  the  matter  was  finally  put  to 
a  vote,  only  one  Indian  approved  of  the  lease.  The  aid  of 
the  Indian  Rights  Association  was  enlisted,  and  as  a  result 
of  these  efforts  the  lease  was  cancelled  in  January,  1921. 

THE  CHURCH  AS  MONEY-LENDER 

“I  want  the  Pimas  to  value  their  land,”  says  Dr.  Lay. 
“I  do  not  want  them  to  forget  that  many  of  their  fathers 
and  grandfathers  died  to  keep  the  Apaches  away.”  One  of 


86 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


the  chief  obstacles  to  the  Indian’s  keeping  his  land  else¬ 
where  has  been  his  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  fact  that 
an  unpaid  mortgage  means  the  loss  of  his  land.  When  the 
Indian  receives  his  property,  he  is  apt  to  get  a  mortgage  on 
it  and  to  spend  the  money  without  realizing  that  one  day  he 
must  pay.  To  impress  upon  the  Indian  the  idea  that  he 
must  pay  what  he  borrows,  Dr.  Lay  has  instituted  a  system 
of  church  loans.  He  started  the  Church  Loan  Fund  as  an 
experiment  about  six  years  ago,  and  it  has  been  wholly  suc¬ 
cessful,  not  a  single  Indian  having  failed  to  pay  his  in¬ 
debtedness.  The  fund  has  now  grown  to  $5,800,  and  eighty- 
three  Indians  have  loans  out  at  present.  The  largest  amount 
loaned  so  far  has  been  $5,000,  which  sixteen  Indians  at 
Blackwater  borrowed  to  pay  for  a  pumping  plant  and  well 
to  water  two  hundred  acres. 

A  special  cotton  loan  of  $5,000,  which  could  have  been 
considerably  increased  if  required,  was  made  by  the  Good¬ 
year  Company  during  the  cotton  boom.  The  white  traders- 
on  the  reservation  did  not  favor  these  loans,  for  they  had 
themselves  been  marketing  the  cotton  raised  by  the  Indians 
and  making  a  good  profit.  The  conditions  of  the  loan 
were  ideal,  and  the  Indian  could  sell  when  he  got  ready. 
The  only  thing  specified  was  that  he  deliver  to  the  Good¬ 
year.  Serving  unofficially  and  without  remuneration,  Dr. 
Lay  acted  as  the  agent  of  the  company,  reporting  the  condi¬ 
tions  and  stand  of  the  cotton.  Collections  have  been  poor 
on  this  loan,  for  the  cotton  crash  came  just  as  the  cotton 
was  ready  to  be  marketed,  but  if  the  company  could  have 
taken  all  of  the  cotton  and  paid  a  fairly  good  price  for  it 
the  loan  would  all  have  been  paid  promptly. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Casa  Grande  has  also  started 
a  loan  fund  for  Indians.  Fifteen  hundred  dollars  was  given 
for  this  purpose  by  people  who,  through  Dr.  Lay,  had  be¬ 
come  interested  in  the  problems  of  the  Indian.  The  bank  - 
also  set  aside  $2,500,  so  that  a  total  fund  of  $4,000  is 
available.  When  an  Indian  on  the  reservation  wants  money, 
he  goes  to  Dr.  Lay  and,  if  he  is  worthy  of  help,  Dr.  Lay 
gives  him  a  note  to  the  bank.  Eighty  Indians  have  loans 
out  now,  on  which  they  pay  10  per  cent,  interest.  “It  is 


AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE 


87 


not  only  helping  them  out  temporarily,  but  it’s  teaching  them 
to  be  good  citizens,”  said  the  president  of  the  bank.  “As  a 
result  of  these  loans,  twenty  accounts  have  been  started.” 

SOCIAL  HABITS 

In  other  ways  also  Dr.  Cook  and  his  successor  have 
served  the  temporal  interests  of  the  Pimas.  With  the 
Christian  Indians  as  leaders,  the  recreational  and  social  life 
of  the  Pimas  has  gradually  been  changed.  Standards  of 
family  life,  the  marriage  law  and  the  position  of  women, 
ever  a  determining  factor  among  Indians,  are  now  those  of 
the  average  white  community.  The  church  is  the  main  in¬ 
fluence  in  directing  public  opinion  and  the  old  Indian  re¬ 
ligion  commands  no  followers. 

Years  ago,  the  first  native  policeman  to  attempt  to  en¬ 
force  the  laws  against  drinking  on  the  reservation  was  one 
of  Dr.  Cook’s  earliest  converts.  At  that  time,  the  Indians 
used  to  make  intoxicating  wine  in  big  jars  called  “olios.” 
On  these  occasions  whole  villages  would  get  drunk,  and 
often  there  would  be  fights.  “We  would  see  a  man  all  cov¬ 
ered  with  blood,  his  clothes  all  bloody,”  said  an  old  Indian, 
adding  reminiscently,  “and  once  in  a  while  a  murder.” 
Indian  policemen,  sent  to  break  the  “olios”  and  stop  the 
drinking  would  usually  end  by  joining  in  the  celebration. 
Finally,  the  agent  appointed  a  new  chief  of  police  and  put 
new  men  under  him.  The  son  of  this  chief  of  police  tells 
what  happened.  “My  father,”  he  said,  “had  become  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  story  of  Jesus  before  this ;  he  had  commenced 
to  attend  church  and  had  been  baptized.  He  went  out  with 
his  men  and  they  didn’t  get  drunk  like  those  others  did. 
They  smashed  the  ‘olios’  with  the  wine  in  them.  That  was 
the  beginning  of  stop  make  that  stuff.  My  father  was  the 
first  Indian  policeman  to  enforce  the  law  against  the  drink¬ 
ing  in  any  village.”  The  reservation  is  now  a  model  of 
sobriety. 

Recreations,  too,  have  changed.  Formerly  the  foot  and 
horse  races  between  villages  were  the  excuse  for  heavy 
gambling.  “The  women,”  an  old  Indian  declared,  “would 


88 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


even  bet  the  skirts  they  were  wearing.”  Recreational  life 
now  centers  in  the  church  and  the  Government  schools. 
Villages  compete  in  clean  athletics,  and  the  policy  of  the 
Mission  includes  a  definite  program  of  recreation.  The 
Pima  Athletic  Association,  which  now  has  seventy  mem¬ 
bers,  was  organized  by  Dr.  Lay  seven  years  ago.  A  foot¬ 
ball  league  is  controlled  by  the  Athletic  Association.  Dr. 
Lay,  who  coaches  one  football  team  and  referees  most  of 
the  games  that  are  played,  began  from  the  first  to  work  for 
a  clean  game  and  the  reservation  now*  has  a  reputation  for 
clean  play  and  for  observing  the  rules.  The  rule  against 
swearing  on  the  field,  for  instance,  overlooked  in  many  foot¬ 
ball  games,  is  scrupulously  enforced  in  the  games  which 
the  Pimas  play. 

As  time  has  gone  on,  more  and  more  responsibility  in 
the  various  organizations  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission  has 
been  accorded  to  the  Indians.  Often  the  outstanding  weak¬ 
ness  of  a  work  of  this  kind  is  that  everything  is  managed 
for  the  Indian,  he  himself  contributing  nothing.  Here,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  management  of  affairs  has  been  grad¬ 
ually  turned  over  to  the  members,  until  at  present  they  take 
as  much  responsibility  as  do  the  members  of  the  average 
white  church.  When,  for  instance,  the  site  of  the  new 
Sacaton  Church  was  chosen,  Dr.  Lay  would  have  liked  it 
to  have  stood  on  the  site  of  the  old  church,  but  the  building 
committee,  after  a  protracted  discussion,  decided  on  a  dif¬ 
ferent  location,  and  that  settled  the  matter.  “It  would  have 
been  easy  for  me  to  get  what  I  wanted,”  said  Dr.  Lay,  “but 
it  wouldn't  have  been  serving  the  Indian.” 

THE  MEMORIAL  CHURCH 

This  Sacaton  Church,  which  was  built  in  1918  as  a 
memorial  to  Dr.  Cook,  is  the  central  and  largest  church 
building.  The  Indians  and  their  white  friends  all  worked 
together  to  raise  the  funds  and  obtained  $17,000  of  the 
$25,000  needed.  The  building  committee  then  appointed 
the  church  treasurer  and  Dr.  Lay  to  ask  a  bank  in  Casa 


THE  PRIMARY  CLASS  OF  THE  CASA  BLANCA  CHURCH  IN  THE  SACATON  FIELD 


IF  THE  HOUSE  OF  A  WIDOW  FALLS  INTO  BAD  REPAIR,  HER  FELLOW  CHURCH 
MEMBERS  FIX  IT  UP  FOR  HER 


- AND  ONE  OF  THE  ELDERS 


AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE 


89 


Blanca  for  the  remaining  $8,000  on  loan,  and  the  request 
was  granted  with  no  other  security  than  “the  face  of  an 
Indian.”  The  building  is  of  gray  stucco.  The  church  audi¬ 
torium  seats  five  hundred  and  the  basement  is  divided  into 
different  classrooms  and  a  kitchen,  furnished  with  a  stove 
and  dishes  and  silver  for  one  hundred  people. 

Eight  other  buildings  are  scattered  over  the  mission  field. 
Four  are  the  homes  of  regular  church  organizations,  one 
is  a  mission  and  the  rest  are  small  chapels  located  in 
parishes  which  are  so  large  that  it  is  more  convenient  to 
have  two  places  of  meeting.  The  chapels  are  used  for 
Sunday  evening  meetings,  prayer  meetings,  and  Christian 
Endeavor  meetings.  The  total  value  of  these  “outpost” 
buildings,  which  were  all  built  by  the  people  themselves, 
even  to  the  adobes,  is  $8,000.  Four  have  outdoor  arbors 
where  summer  meetings  are  held.  There  are  two  manses, 
one  at  Sacaton  and  one  at  Gila  Crossing,  and  there  are 
also  two  houses  for  workers  on  that  part  of  the  Papago 
reservation  which  is  included  in  this  field. 

WORKING  TOWARD  SELF-SUPPORT 

That  the  Indians  are  assuming  more  responsibility  all  the 
time  is  shown  in  the  way  the  churches  are  growing  toward 
self-support,  and  in  this  connection  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  because  of  the  whites  taking  their  water,  many 
of  these  Indians  are  not  as  well  off  financially  as  they  were 
thirty  years  ago.  At  present  this  is  still  a  home  mission 
field,  a  little  more  than  $4,600  having  been  received  in 
1922-23  for  the  support  of  the  work  from  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Board  and  from  some  outside  contributors.  There 
is  little  doubt,  however,  that  when  the  Pimas  all  have  water, 
the  work  will  become  entirely  self-supporting.  In  1922,  the 
churches  raised  $432  for  home  missions,  $38  for  foreign 
missions,  $120  for  evangelism,  $50  for  other  church  causes 
and  $126  for  miscellaneous  benevolences.  In  1902,  twenty 
years  earlier,  they  raised  only  $138  for  home  missions,  $14 
for  foreign  missions  and  $29  for  all  other  church  and 


90 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


benevolent  causes.  In  1922,  $1,275  was  raised  for  con¬ 
gregational  expenses ;  in  1912,  $450  was  raised  for  this 
purpose,  and  in  1902  only  $127. 

Collections  are  taken  up  at  all  meetings.  Each  church 
uses  the  budget  system  and  makes  out  its  own  budget.  An 
every-member  canvass  is  made  every  spring  by  the  group 
leaders.  The  people  promise  to  pay  something,  but  they 
rarely  pledge  actual  amounts  because  they  cannot  tell  in  ad¬ 
vance  about  their  crops.  They  give  what  they  can. 

Membership  of  the  churches  increases  steadily.  In  1902 
the  total  membership  was  896;  in  1922  it  had  grown  to 
1,382.  The  present  membership  is  distributed  as  follows 
among  the  five  organized  churches : 


Sacaton .  526 

Gila  Crossing .  308 

Casa  Blanca .  247 

Blackwater .  233 

Maricopa  .  68 


This  represents  a  higher  membership  average  than  in  any 
other  group  of  Indian  churches  in  the  United  States.  The 
total  number  of  members  equals  22  per  cent,  of  the  total 
population. 

Care  is  taken  to  keep  track  of  every  church  member  and 
a  regular  “ever-follow”  system  has  been  worked  out.  Each 
elder  is  supervisor  of  a  district  and  watches  over  every 
church  family  in  his  district.  When  the  weather  begins  to 
get  cold,  he  sees  that  all  of  his  families  have  enough  wood. 
If  a  home  is  without  wood  and  has  not  the  money  to 
buy  any,  he  calls  the  men  of  the  church  together  and  they 
cut  and  haul  wood  for  that  family.  Or,  if  the  house  of  a 
widow  or  sick  family  is  letting  in  the  rain  and  cold,  the 
men  of  the  church  take  time  to  rebuild  the  house.  Further¬ 
more,  in  every  village  there  are  group  leaders  each  of  whom 
has  a  list  of  people  for  whose  attendance  at  meetings  he 
assumes  responsibility.  These  group  leaders  come  together 
once  a  month  in  the  Religious  Council,  which  was  organized 
two  years  ago  to  discuss  general  policies,  methods  and  plans. 


AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE 


91 


Members  have  a  real  feeling  of  responsibility  toward 
those  who  are  not  members  of  any  church.  “If  one  of  our 
neighbors  is  not  a  member  of  any  church  we  have  to  go 
to  him  and  hold  a  little  meeting  at  his  house,”  said  an 
elder,  “then  we  just  keep  on  going  until  he  say  he  is  glad 
to  see  us,  until  he  wait  for  us  to  come  back  again.  We  talk 
to  him  about  the  Gospel  and  keep  on  coming  again  and 
again.  Then  when  Communion  is  coming,  I  have  to  go  to 
him  and  ask  him  how  he  feel  now.  I  say,  ‘If  you  want, 
come  to  Communion/  He  say,  ‘All  right,  I  go/  Then  I 
report  to  Dirk  Lay  who  goes  and  sees  him.  Maybe  the  next 
Communion  he  join,  or  the  next  one  after  that.” 

THE  CAMP  MEETING 

The  chief  evangelistic  effort  is  made  at  the  yearly  camp 
meeting,  held  in  the  large  arbor  at  Casa  Blanca.  These 
camp  meetings  were  started  by  Dr.  Cook  fifteen  years  ago 
and  have  been  held  every  year  since.  They  are  now  man¬ 
aged  by  the  Indians  themselves  through  the  Elders’  Asso¬ 
ciation  (which  includes  elders  from  all  the  Indian  churches 
on  the  Gila  River  and  Salt  River  reservations). 

In  order  to  obtain  good  speakers  for  the  camp  meetings, 
a  kind  of  plan  of  exchange  is  worked,  Dr.  Lay  speaking 
in  some  big  city  church  and  the  church  sending  their  min¬ 
ister  out  to  the  camp  meeting.  Two  thousand  Indians  from 
all  that  section  of  the  country  came  in  wagons  and  on  horse¬ 
back  to  the  last  camp  meeting,  which  started  on  Thursday 
evening,  October  12th,  and  lasted  through  Sunday  night. 
In  the  morning  there  were  classes  on  methods  in  Sunday 
school  work  and  Christian  Endeavor.  The  general  meet¬ 
ings  came  in  the  afternoon  and  evening.  People  were  asked 
to  come  up  and  take  a  stand  for  Christ  on  all  but  the  first 
day.  If  an  Indian  has  not  been  living  right  during  the 
year  he  feels  called  upon  to  take  a  stand  at  the  camp  meet¬ 
ing.  On  the  last  days  there  is  always  a  big  collection  which 
amounted  at  the  last  meeting  to  $431.94.  Expenses  came 
to  $289.56,  and  the  balance  was  sent  as  a  contribution  to 
home  missions. 


92 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATIONS 

The  first  Sunday  school  was  started  by  Dr.  Lay  in  1913 
with  three  pupils;  now  every  church  member  is  enrolled 
in  some  one  of  the  six  Sunday  schools.  The  total  enroll¬ 
ment  is  1,580.  Years  ago  Dr.  Cook  started  to  teach  the 
Bible  to  school  children  once  a  week.  This  work  has  grown 
until  now  regular  catechism  classes  are  held  every  Tues¬ 
day  night  at  Sacaton  in  which  all  the  Presbyterian  school 
children  in  the  Government  boarding  school  are  enrolled. 
Once  a  year  the  children  in  these  classes  are  asked  if  they 
would  like  to  join  the  church.  At  present  one  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  are  enrolled  in  these  classes,  all  but  one  of 
which  are  taught  by  Indian  men  members.  After  the  class 
period  is  over,  Dr.  Lay  conducts  a  training  course  for 
teachers  and  any  one  else  who  is  interested. 

The  nine  Christian  Endeavor  Societies — six  senior,  one  in¬ 
termediate  and  two  junior — have  a  total  enrollment  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-two.  Regular  meetings  are  held  on  Sun¬ 
day  morning  or  evening,  and  each  society  has  socials  through 
the  year.  The  senior  societies  often  go  almost  en  masse  to 
other  villages  to  help  organize  Christian  Endeavor  Societies 
if  there  is  none  or  to  encourage  a  society  already  organized. 
Other  organizations  include  an  Old  People’s  Society  at  Casa 
Blanca  of  twenty-five  members ;  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  with  twenty 
members  at  Blackwater,  and  women’s  missionary  societies, 
with  thirty-five  members,  at  Sacaton  and  Blackwater. 

The  people  have  a  social  program  in  connection  with  their 
churches  and  chapels  which  they  plan  and  carry  out  them¬ 
selves.  On  special  days  there  are  open-air  feasts  in  the  dif¬ 
ferent  villages,  to  which  every  one  in  the  village  is  invited. 
On  Christmas  Day,  the  feast  is  followed  by  an  entertain¬ 
ment  at  which  there  is  a  tree  and  a  Santa  Claus  to  distribute 
the  presents.  On  the  Fourth  of  July,  some  one  village  en¬ 
tertains  all  the  rest,  and  there  are  typical  round-up  sports. 

To  be  at  Sacaton  and  see  the  services  through  a  Sunday 
convinces  one  that  this  church  has  somehow  given  the 
Indians  a  real  vision  of  a  living  Christ.  Church  services 
at  Sacaton  come  in  the  afternoon  and  the  scene  resembles 


AN  INDIAN  EXAMPLE  93 

the  grounds  of  a  state  fair  with  teams  and  riding  horses 
fastened  all  along  the  fence  about  the  church  grounds. 

The  bugles  sound  from  the  school  grounds  directly  in 
front  of  the  church ;  the  boys  in  one  line,  the  girls  in  an¬ 
other,  spick  and  span  in  their  Sunday  dress,  march  over 
two  by  two.  In  they  come,  children  in  front,  men  on  one 
side,  shawled  women  with  their  babies  on  the  other,  until 
the  large  auditorium  is  full.  The  choir,  whose  leader  is  the 
grandson  of  the  old  chief  of  the  tribe,  take  their  places  in 
the  choir  loft.  The  service  begins.  Dr.  Lay  preaches  in 
English,  the  Indian  interpreter  by  his  side  translating  the 
sermon  sentence  by  sentence  into  Pima.  The  congregation 
exhibits  intense  earnestness  and  a  deep  interest  in  what  is 
being  said. 

The  number  of  mission  workers  this  field  has  produced 
shows  how  the  message  has  touched  the  hearts  of  the  Pima 
Indians.  Six  have  gone  into  the  ministry  in  the  last  five 
years.  In  the  last  ten  years,  a  total  of  eighteen  have  de¬ 
cided  to  dedicate  their  lives  to  Christ.  All  of  the  nine  native 
assistants  and  the  part-time  worker  came  from  this  field. 
Three  of  these  men  are  stationed  on  the  Papago  reserva¬ 
tion.  One  of  the  mission  workers  tells  of  the  instructions 
Dr.  Cook  gave  to  him  when  he  started  off  to  do  his  first 
preaching.  “Take  care  of  yourself,”  Dr.  Cook  told  him. 
“You  are  like  an  open  book  in  the  eyes  of  your  fellow 
men.  People  will  come  to  hear  you  preach.  They  will  read 
your  every-day  life  and  see  whether  you  are  trying  to  lead 
the  kind  of  life  you  are  talking  about.  They  will  read  your 
conduct,  your  conversation  and  your  actions.  So  I  say, 
take  care  of  yourself.” 

THE  WAY  TO  THE  INDIAN’S  HEART 

The  missionary  in  charge,  Dr.  Dirk  Lay,  has  the  absolute 
confidence  of  his  people.  “There  are  more  than  five  hundred 
Indians  here  that  Lay  could  take  straight  to  hell  with  him 
if  he  wanted  to,”  is  the  way  one  of  his  Pimas  put  it.  He 
loves  the  Indians  like  brothers,  and  they  love  and  trust  him 
in  return.  “The  elders  and  I  have  a  perfect  understanding,” 


94 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


said  Dr.  Lay.  “When  I  came  I  told  them  that  I  was 
going  to  treat  them  like  white  men  and  I  wanted  them  to 
treat  me  like  their  own  people.  I  told  them  that  I  wanted 
their  respect;  that  I  would  not  stay  unless  I  had  it.  If  I 
do  something  they  don’t  like,  they  tell  me  about  it  and  I 
do  the  same  with  them.  You  must  have  faith  in  your 
people  or  they  will  not  have  faith  in  you.”  The  elders  once 
told  their  white  pastor  they  thought  he  was  devoting  too 
much  of  his  time  to  athletics,  to  baseball  especially.  They 
talked  the  matter  over  pro  and  con  and  Lay  explained  to 
them  carefully  that  in  those  places  where  church  people  did 
not  go  in  for  baseball  there  were  often  Sunday  games. 
“You  see,  we  go  in  for  ball  at  Sacaton,”  he  told  them,  “and 
we  don’t  have  Sunday  ball.”  Since  then  he  has  never  heard 
another  word  against  athletics. 

This  mission  has  done  what  it  set  out  to  do.  Dr.  Cook 
realized  that  Indians,  like  white  men,  are  reached  not  in 
masses  or  by  wholesale  legislation,  but  only  as  the  mass  is 
broken  up  and  touched  as  individuals.  “The  first  white 
man  that  gave  us  a  chance  to  believe  was  Cook,”  said  one 
of  the  elders ;  “then,  when  we  old  Indians  learned  Chris¬ 
tian  ways,  we  helped  too.  Together  we  worked,  trying  to 
do  what  is  right,  help  others,  pushing  right  on  and  going 
right  ahead.” 

The  Presbyterian  Mission  at  Sacaton  has  shown  the 
capabilities  of  the  Indians  for  civilization  and  for  Chris¬ 
tianity.  It  has  shown  what  can  be  accomplished  by  Chris¬ 
tian  men  of  large  and  humane  views,  following  a  Christian 
program.  Part  of  this  program  has  been  the  difficult  task 
of  trying  to  persuade  the  American  people  that  the  Pimas 
had  rights  which  the  white  man  was  bound  to  respect. 
Largely  as  a  result  of  the  missionaries’  efforts  along  this 
line,  the  outlook  for  enough  water  for  all  the  Pimas  is 
favorable,  the  Pima  lands  have  been  allotted  and  they  have 
not  been  leased.  On  the  reservation,  white  leaders  and 
Indians  together  have  worked  out  an  adequate  program  for 
a  rural  people  living  in  small  villages  scattered  over  a  large 
area.  It  is  a  program  which  has  reached  the  whole  life  of  the 
Indian  and  centered  it  in  the  church. 


Chapter  VIII 

lthe  old  order  changeth 

GONZALES,  TEXAS 

How  two  colored  churches ,  by  helping  their  people  to  help 
themselves,  lifted  two  little  cotton-field  communities  out 
of  their  ruts  and  raised  them  to  the  status  of  inde¬ 
pendent,  progressive,  self-respecting  neighborhoods. 

From  the  road,  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia  appear  very  like 
hundreds  of  other  little  cotton-field  neighborhoods  of  the 
great  Lone  Star  State.  The  traveler  speeding  over  the  old 
Spanish  Trail,  the  Middle  Buster  and  other  roads  in  South¬ 
west  Texas,  continually  passes  country  lanes  that  lead  in¬ 
evitably  to  these  little  scattered  communities  each  with  a 
name  of  its  own,  where  groups  of  farmers  are  tilling  the 
rich  soil  of  the  river  valleys,  raising  their  cotton  crops  and 
shipping  their  products  to  market. 

The  country  around  Lone  Oak  and  about  Monthalia  is  as 
level  as  a  floor  and  the  roads  are  lined  on  either  side  with 
purple  thistles  and  wild  sunflowers.  Mocking  birds  sing  in 
the  great  moss-hung  trees  by  the  Guadalupe  River.  The 
“lawn  mower”  frogs  call  out  to  remind  you  that  this  indeed 
is  the  “Sunny  South.”  In  the  midst  of  a  cotton,  corn  or 
sorghum  field  you  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  little  cabin,  the  home 
of  a  Mexican  tenant  and  his  large  family  who  all  come  out 
and  look  wonderingly  after  your  car. 

You  travel  through  mesquite  groves,  through  avenues  of 
great  post  oaks  with  their  trailing  vines ;  you  gaze  off  over 
miles  of  open  spaces  where  the  cotton  fields  and  the  horizon 
meet,  over  a  country  of  sunshine,  blue  skies — of  music. 
There  is  no  hustle  and  bustle.  Tractors  go  snailing  up 
and  down  the  rows  of  corn.  Mule  teams  plod  along  the 
highways  with  loads  of  grain.  Colored  drivers,  leaning  com¬ 
fortably  back  in  their  high  seats,  feet  high  on  the  dashboard, 

95 


96 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


sing  as  they  go.  If  the  price  of  cotton  goes  up — well  and 
good;  if  it  slumps,  they  sing  just  the  same. 

Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia  are  both  little  cotton-field  neigh¬ 
borhoods  of  Gonzales,  the  county  seat  and  central  trading 
point  of  the  county  of  that  name.  The  history  of  this  region 
goes  back  to  the  earliest  settlements  of  Texas,  is  linked  with 
the  story  of  the  new-old  city  of  San  Antonio  and  the  war 
of  independence  between  Mexico  and  Texas. 

The  white  residents  of  Gonzales  are  very  proud  of  their 
history  and  their  ancestry.  They  come  from  fine  old  South¬ 
ern  stock ;  conservative,  aristocratic,  successful  and  inde¬ 
pendent  they  are,  as  were  their  forebears,  wealthy  planters 
of  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  who  once  came  to 
trade  in  cotton  at  Gonzales. 

After  the  Civil  War,  when,  for  the  second  time,  the  popu¬ 
lation  had  been  thinned  out  by  war,  many  of  the  ex-slaves 
settled  down  in  the  open  country  where  they  had  labored; 
and  they  and  their  families  to-day  make  up  virtually  75  per 
cent,  of  the  population  of  communities  like  Lone  Oak  and 
Monthalia. 

When  the  driver  stops  the  car  and  announces:  “This 
is  Lone  Oak,”  you  wonder  where  even  the  tree  is  that  gave 
it  its  name,  for  there  are  no  traces  of  a  community  center, 
no  buildings,  no  houses  visible.  Far  back  on  the  hill  stands 
an  old  white  meeting  house  and  behind  it  a  little  cabin 
parsonage — and  this  is  Lone  Oak.  You  must  go  “cross 
lots,”  through  the  cotton  fields,  and  in  among  the  mesquite 
trees  to  find  the  homes  of  the  four  hundred  people  who 
live  here.  Three-fourths  of  them  are  colored  and  60  per 
cent,  of  them  are  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Some  are 
old  settlers  of  Civil  War  days  and  all  are  happy  on  the 
land.  At  least  70  per  cent,  of  the  white  farmers  own  their 
land  free  of  debt  and  few  there  are  who  are  not  boosters 
for  Lone  Oak.  Their  farms  average  sixty  acres  and  the 
land  is  not  for  sale.  The  population  of  Monthalia  is  seven 
hundred  and  forty-three,  nearly  five  hundred  of  whom  are 
colored.  Most  of  the  farm  owners  here  are  thrifty  Ger¬ 
mans  from  the  north  who  fortunately  have  been  very  lenient 
with  their  colored  neighbors,  have  encouraged  them  to  buy 


THE  PASTOR  AND  HIS  CONGREGATION  ENJOY  AN  AL  FRESCO  BANQUET 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


97 


land  and  allowed  them  to  pay  on  time  at  low  prices.  If 
payments  could  not  be  made  when  due,  these  good  folk  have 
been  patient  and  have  allowed  the  purchasers  to  hold  the 
land  with  the  payment  of  interest  alone ;  for  the  Germans 
understand  what  land  ownership  means  to  all  people.  So 
far,  however,  only  one  colored  farmer  in  Monthalia  owns 
his  farm  clear  of  debt,  though  a  good  number  are  working 
toward  ownership.  Many  are  very  old  and  are  related  to 
one  another.  Debts  have  weighed  them  down  ever  since 
Civil  War  days.  To  pay  the  old  debts  they  have  become 
indebted  to  new  creditors,  or  have  paid  in  labor  and  have 
never  been  able  absolutely  to  free  themselves. 

On  these  fertile  lands  along  the  Guadalupe  River  there 
are  also  groups  of  Bohemian,  Polish,  and  Belgian  farmers 
recently  arrived  who  by  their  thrift  and  modern  farm 
methods,  learned  in  so  very  short  a  time,  have  also  encour¬ 
aged  their  colored  neighbors  to  work  toward  independence. 

A  DISHEARTENED  PEOPLE 

Home  ties  are  strong  in  these  neighborhoods.  The  main, 
and  in  fact  the  only,  centers  of  activity  are  the  churches; 
and  herein  lies  a  story  of  two  colored  religious  organiza¬ 
tions  in  the  open  country  that  have  indeed  learned  the  full 
meaning  of  the  word  spirituality  and  radically  changed  the 
life  of  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia.  From  a  state  of  almost 
complete  stagnation  they  have  become  vital  forces  in  their 
communities  and  have  fulfilled,  in  each  case,  not  only  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  parish  but  have  lifted  the  people  to 
higher  personal  and  community  ideals  and  service. 

Five  years  ago  these  two  little  colored  churches  stood  im¬ 
potent,  lacking  in  leadership,  poor,  unequipped,  battered  and 
weatherbeaten.  The  former  pastor  of  this  circuit  had  left 
in  the  middle  of  the  year,  discouraged  and  downhearted. 
His  people  were  indifferent;  memberships  were  decreasing. 
There  was  no  money  and  there  was  no  method  of  raising  it 
or  of  spending  it.  The  church  had  no  program  nor  societies 
for  young  people  or  old.  Now  and  then  a  small  group  gath¬ 
ered  for  Sunday  school  but  there  were  no  regular  services, 


98  CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 

nor  was  there  one  to  lead  them  if  services  had  been  held. 

No  one  visited  any  one  else.  Each  farmer  and  his  family 
raised  a  little  cotton  and  cotton  only.  Every  cent  the 
farmers  made  they  spent  on  themselves  for  clothes  and  good 
times,  frequently  driving  over  to  Gonzales,  upon  which  city 
they  were  dependent  for  supplies.  They  had  no  confidence 
in  themselves  nor  in  one  another.  Suspicion  and  ignorance 
were  everywhere  in  evidence.  Ambition  they  had  none. 
Life  seemed  to  them  no  better  than  slavery;  for,  after  all, 
they  were  bound  by  debt  and  still  dependent  on  the  white 
people  on  whose  farms  most  of  them  worked  as  tenants. 

Then  came  a  new  pastor  to  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia. 
The  Reverend  John  L.  Sullivan  Edmondson,  with  his  wife 
and  small  family,  moved  into  the  tiny  cabin  parsonage  at 
Lone  Oak  on  the  hill  back  of  the  rickety  little  church;  and 
things  began  to  happen.  Reverend  John  L.  Sullivan  Ed¬ 
mondson  came  straight  from  Gammon  Seminary — a  man 
with  a  clear  young  brain;  a  fearless  fighter  for  the  right;  a 
believer  in  work  and  one  who  knew  the  meaning  of  it,  for 
in  order  to  pay  his  way  through  college  and  seminary  he  had 
cooked  for  the  whole  student  body. 

The  first  thing  this  pastor  perceived  was  that  his  people 
were  broken  in  spirit.  He  found  there  were  few  white 
people  in  the  two  communities  included  in  his  pastorate, 
that  these  few  were  friendly  and  unlike  the  white  residents 
of  Gonzales  and  larger  towns  where  the  colored  folk  were 
treated  with  indifference  and  contempt;  and  he  concluded 
that  here  he  could  build  up  real  self-respecting  communities 
if  only  he  could  restore  confidence  in  the  people  and  help 
them  to  help  themselves. 

WORKING  TOWARD  ECONOMIC  INDEPENDENCE 

To  do  this,  he  and  Mrs.  Edmondson  adopted  a  program 
intended  to  minister  to  every  need  of  every  colored  person 
in  their  parishes.  “Until  my  people  can  become  indepen¬ 
dent,  that  is — until  they  do  not  have  to  depend  on  some  one 
else  for  their  food  and  living,”  he  said,  “they  cannot  be 
helped.  The  whole  trouble  throughout  the  South  comes 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


99 


from  the  fact  that  although  they  are  slaves  no  longer,  my 
people  have  still  been  bound.  They  have  borrowed  money 
and  have  had  to  pay  it  back  in  labor.”  Seeing  the  Pole 
and  the  German,  who  had  been  there  only  a  short  time, 
making  good  and  becoming  independent,  he  set  out  to  con¬ 
vince  his  people  that  they  too  might  become  independent. 
And  he  preached  the  gospel  of  “Raise  what  you  eat  and  eat 
what  you  raise.” 

In  order  to  encourage  his  parishioners  to  become  their 
own  masters,  he  purchased  a  ten  acre  farm  at  Lone  Oak  and 
a  sixty  acre  farm  at  Monthalia  and  set  certain  days  when 
all  the  men  in  the  respective  communities  should  work  the 
land,  with  the  promise  that  all  who  worked  should  share  the 
harvest.  Men  became  eager  to  buy  their  own  homes.  A 
large  part  of  the  Monthalia  farm  is,  however,  still  pasture 
land.  Formerly  the  landlords  furnished  no  places  for  the 
tenants  to  keep  horses  and  cows ;  hence  many  farmers  were 
without  cattle  or  means  of  conveyance.  They  lived  too  far 
from  the  church  to  walk  to  services  and  simply  stayed  at 
home.  Now  they  have  the  use  of  the  church  pasture  and 
have  bought  horses.  Wood  at  one  time  cost  so  much  to 
haul  and  was  cut  so  far  away  from  the  colored  sections  that 
the  colored  folk  usually  went  without  it.  Now  they  are  cut¬ 
ting  their  wood  from  the  church  land.  The  purchase  of 
the  community  farms  marked  the  beginning  of  cooperation 
and  team  work  for  Monthalia  and  Lone  Oak. 

Diversification  of  crops  was  encouraged.  Mr.  Edmond¬ 
son  found  one  man  planting  only  cotton  year  after  year  and 
making  little  money.  This  man  lived  in  a  one-room  shack 
over  in  the  hills.  The  preacher  talked  turkeys  to  him  until 
he  decided  to  raise  a  few.  Gonzales  is  the  greatest  turkey 
market  in  the  world  and  the  man  made  $400  clear  on  turkeys 
the  first  year.  The  next  year  he  raised  more.  He  now 
lives  in  a  modern,  up-to-date  bungalow  across  the  road  from 
his  former  cabin.  He  is  independent.  Though  he  still  raises 
some  cotton,  his  main  income  is  from  his  turkeys. 

This  pastor  knew  that  in  other  communities  prizes  were 
given  for  fine  hogs,  poultry,  vegetables  and  gardens.  To 
encourage  better  farming  he  organized  clubs,  a  poultry  club 


100 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


of  ten  girls,  and  a  garden  club  of  ten  girls,  a  corn  club  of 
eight  and  a  pig  club  of  six  boys.  All  met  regularly  at  the 
church  to  learn  the  best  methods.  They  began  to  get  ac¬ 
quainted  and  to  enjoy  getting  together  to  talk  things  over. 
The  boys  and  girls  winning  the  first  prizes  for  the  best  pig, 
garden,  chickens,  or  corn  are  given  free  trips  to  the  annual 
Conference  at  San  Antonio.  Every  one  believes  that  these 
prizes  are  worth  trying  for  and  is  out  to  win. 

SETTING  NEW  STANDARDS 

A  regular  clean-up  week  was  introduced  and  is  held  each 
year.  Prizes  are  offered  for  the  best-kept  homes  and  yards. 
The  preacher  has  tried  to  improve  the  personal  habits  of 
the  people.  Through  the  church  he  is  developing  higher 
ideals,  encouraging  neatness  and  better  personal  appearance. 
When  his  parishioners  go  to  town  they  are  more  and  more 
particular  to  “clean  up”  and  dress  as  they  should.  “Just 
any  old  thing”  is  no  longer  good  enough.  Home  life  has 
been  enriched  and  a  spirit  of  neighborliness  is  growing. 
Whole  families  turn  out  to  services  and  visit  one  another. 

In  order  to  increase  attendance  at  church,  the  pastor 
started  house-to-house  prayer  meetings.  The  people  then 
began  to  attend  church  regularly.  Better  housing  conditions 
were  encouraged.  Sometimes  nine  persons  were  found  liv¬ 
ing  in  a  one-room  cabin.  There  are  no  such  cases  now. 
Three  new  houses  have  been  built  recently  and  five  have 
been  enlarged  and  remodeled. 

Mr.  Edmondson  came  to  the  parish  with  the  understand¬ 
ing  that  the  board  would  soon  find  a  city  charge  for  him; 
but  when  the  call  from  a  city  came  in  August,  1918,  after 
he  had  been  four  months  in  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia,  he 
refused  it  flatly,  because  these  people  needed  him.  With 
quick,  hard  work,  this  live-wire  preacher  has  so  rallied  them 
that  when  the  district  Conference  was  held  they  had  raised, 
in  the  four  months,  their  whole  annual  quota  for  benevo¬ 
lences  ;  something  they  had  not  accomplished  in  any  twelve 
months  before  in  the  preceding  thirty  years.  Mr.  Edmond¬ 
son  saw  what  could  be  done  if  proper  leadership  were  given 
and  knew  that  his  people  had  long  been  waiting  for  just  the 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


101 


sort  of  program  he  had  set  in  motion.  He  and  Mrs.  Ed¬ 
mondson  then  proceeded  with  the  work  along  other  lines. 
They  opened  a  day  school  in  the  Lone  Oak  church  where 
any  one  who  desired  to  study  English,  arithmetic,  writing, 
or  other  subjects,  might  come.  Men,  women,  and  children 
eagerly  attended  these  classes  and  many  at  Lone  Oak  can 
now  read  and  write  very  well.  The  people  were  impressed 
with  the  value  of  education  and  public  school  attendance 
was  increased. 

Next  a  first  aid  headquarters  was  opened  at  the  parson¬ 
age.  Lessons  were  given ;  and  during  the  “flu”  period  both 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmondson  were  community  doctors  and 
nurses.  “Regular  good  Samaritans,  they  were,”  an  old  man 
said.  Even  now,  in  every  case  of  sickness,  some  one  goes 
running  to  the  parsonage.  All  think  the  pastor  ought  to 
have  every  kind  of  medicine  there  is ;  and  they  have  abso¬ 
lute  faith  in  his  remedies. 

A  community  park  was  the  next  project.  At  the  foot  of 
the  hill  where  no  crops  are  planted  there  is  a  grove.  Here 
picnics  are  held,  sometimes  lasting  all  day.  The  Monthalia 
people  drive  over  and  community  events  take  place  fre¬ 
quently;  thus  the  two  communities  have  been  drawn  closer 
together  socially  and  in  other  ways  as  well. 

One  secret  of  the  success  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmondson  lies 
in  their  genius  for  promoting  friendliness.  The  first  year 
they  lived  in  the  little  Lone  Oak  cabin  they  found  the  people 
never  visited  one  another.  They  bought  an  ice  cream 
freezer;  and  with  it  packed,  and  in  their  buggy,  they  would 
start  out  to  visit  their  people.  Milk  and  cream  could  be 
had  for  the  asking ;  so  the  pastor  furnished  the  ice,  and  the 
people  furnished  the  cream,  for  a  social  afternoon  that  could 
be  enjoyed  with  no  embarrassment  and  no  timidity,  with 
every  one  taking  part  in  the  “entertaining  of  the  pastor  and 
his  wife,”  while  refreshments  were  served  de  luxe. 

NOT  FORGETTING  THE  KITCHEN 

Going  about  the  parish,  the  preacher  seldom  saw  canned 
fruits  and  vegetables  in  the  homes ;  and  he  found  that  those 


102 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


who  ate  meat  at  all  were  having  difficulty  in  keeping  it 
fresh.  He  went  away  to  summer  school  in  1920  and  took 
special  courses  in  canning,  preserving,  and  meat-curing. 
Already  he  was  an  expert  cook.  When  he  returned  from 
summer  school  he  invited  the  women  folk  to  the  parson¬ 
age  and  showed  them  how  to  can  fruits  and  vegetables,  how 
to  make  jellies  and  to  cure  meats.  Now  their  cupboards  are 
well  stocked.  There  are  shelves  upon  shelves  of  berry 
preserves,  canned  fruits  and  vegetables,  all  labeled  and  wait¬ 
ing  for  “special  occasions.” 

During  all  the  while  he  was  developing  this  many-sided 
social  program,  Mr.  Edmondson  was  preaching  straight 
from  the  shoulder.  He  was  talking  independence,  the  value 
of  a  bank  account,  better  citizenship;  he  was  urging  upon 
the  older  men  that  it  was  up  to  them  to  make  the  new 
generation  better  than  their  own,  up  to  them  to  make  better 
provision  for  their  children  than  had  been  made  for  them¬ 
selves  when  they  were  young.  He  urged:  “Don’t  sing, 
‘Where  is  my  wandering  boy  to-night?’  but  ‘Where  is  my 
wandering  boy — and  his  father?’” 

Mr.  Edmondson  had  endeavored  to  feed  his  flock  not 
only  with  the  material  food  they  were  learning  so  well  to 
raise,  but  with  the  spiritual  food  necessary  for  the  building 
up  of  their  moral,  educational,  social  and  economic  life. 
Said  he:  “My  people  know  that  I  can  borrow  money  from 
a  Gonzales  bank  just  as  well  as  any  white  man  there — not 
so  much  as  some,  but  as  much  as  any  white  man  of  equal 
resources.  And  they  know  why.  Because  I  always  pay  it 
back  on  time.  I  always  pay  my  debts.  Independence  of 
livelihood  and  only  that  can  set  my  people  free.”  And  this 
is  the  goal  for  which  he  is  working — not  for  Lone  Oak  and 
Monthalia  alone  but  for  all  his  people  everywhere. 

EQUIPMENT 

Both  the  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia  colored  churches  are 
still  in  dilapidated  condition,  are  valued  at  only  $300  and 
$400,  and  seat  only  two  hundred  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  people  respectively.  The  little  cabin  parsonage 
is  valued  at  only  $200.  Ten  acres  of  land  at  Lone  Oak  are 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


103 


valued  at  $1,500  and  the  sixty  acres  at  Monthalia  at  $3,500. 
Both  churches  are  one-room  buildings  with  only  rickety 
chairs  and  benches  and  rude  pulpits.  Nearly  every  pane  of 
glass  is  broken  or  entirely  gone  from  the  windows.  A  storm 
has  undermined  the  Monthalia  church  and  set  it  at  a  queer 
angle ;  but  new  equipment  has  been  promised  by  the  Cen¬ 
tenary  Fund  and  as  soon  as  possible  will  be  forthcoming. 
In  the  meantime  the  church  program  is  in  full  swing  despite 
the  inadequate  equipment. 


ON  A  SOUND  BUSINESS  BASIS 

From  no  financial  system  at  all  to  an  A-l  budget  system 
of  raising  funds  these  churches  have  proceeded  during  the 
last  five  years.  Both  use  duplex  envelopes.  An  every- 
member  canvass  is  held  annually.  All  money  is  raised  by 
subscriptions  of  which  there  are  one  hundred  and  ten  in 
Lone  Oak  and  one  hundred  and  eight  in  Monthalia,  only 
fourteen  in  each  place  coming  from  non-members.  About 
10  per  cent,  of  the  total  money  pledged  comes  from  non¬ 
members.  The  church  then  has  set  the  example  of  proper 
handling  of  money. 

The  Lone  Oak  church  has  a  small  debt  of  $400  incurred 
in  1921  for  purchase  of  land.  Thirty-two  dollars  a  year  is 
being  paid  as  interest,  the  money  being  raised  by  pledge. 
Monthalia  owes  on  its  land  $2,000,  which  debt  is  being  paid 
at  the  rate  of  $170  a  year.  The  current  expenses,  itemized 
below,  are  met  without  a  deficit. 


Expenditures 


Lone  Oak 


Monthalia 


Salary  . 

Benevolence  . 

Local  benevolence . 

Repairs  and  interest  . . . . 

Other  salaries . 

General  maintenance 
Other  expense  . 


$300 

105 

186  ($32 

on  land) 
56 

50 


$697 


$400 

120 

20 

190  ($170 
on  land) 

106 

50 

60 


$946 


104 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


WORSHIP 

Preaching  services  are  held  in  Lone  Oak  every  other 
Sunday  morning  and  evening.  Every  Sunday  afternoon 
there  is  either  a  meeting  of  the  Epworth  League  or  the 
Farmers’  Improvement  Society.  Two  midweek  services, 
one  a  meeting  of  the  teacher  training  class  and  one  a  regular 
prayer  meeting,  are  regularly  held. 

At  Monthalia  preaching  services  are  held  every  other  Sun- 
•  day  morning  and  afternoon,  and  each  week  the  church  is 
open  for  prayer  meeting. 

The  morning  services  at  the  two  churches  have  an  at¬ 
tendance  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  each.  At 
Lone  Oak  about  eighty  is  the  average  attendance  at  evening 
services,  while  about  one  hundred  attend  the  afternoon  meet¬ 
ings  in  Monthalia.  The  percentage  attending  each  church 
according  to  sex  groups  is  as  follows : 

Lone  Oak  Monthalia 

A.M.  P.M.  A.M.  P.M. 


Men  .  25  50  30  35 

Women .  40  40  50  40 

Young  people  .  20  10  10  15 

Children  .  15  x  10  10 


Attend  one  of  the  services  on  a  sunny  Sunday  morning. 
As  you  approach  the  shabby  little  building  it  seems  to  you 
that  every  one  in  the  community  is  heading  for  the  church. 
Out  through  the  cotton  and  corn  fields  come  groups  of 
women  and  girls  dressed  in  their  best  spic  and  span  or¬ 
gandies  of  every  hue  imaginable,  their  broad-brimmed 
shade  hats  trimmed  with  bright  flowers.  Down  the  road 
and  through  the  lanes  come  people,  old  and  young,  afoot, 
on  horseback  and  in  buggies,  and  even  in  well-filled  lumber 
wagons.  In  the  churchyard  under  the  trees,  the  horses 
are  unharnessed  and  turned  loose  to  keep  cool  and  to  graze 
during  the  service.  Saddles  are  removed  from  the  ponies 
and  thrown  over  the  limbs  of  the  trees.  The  little  old  bell 
rings  out  its  invitation  to  worship. 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


105 


There  is  no  organ  prelude.  There  is  no  organ — nor  is 
there  need  for  one.  Some  one  starts  to  sing,  others  join  in. 
Soon  all  the  congregation  is  assembled  and  the  service 
begins.  A  chorus  sings  “Swing  Low,  Sweet  Chariot”  and 
other  well-known  and  dearly  loved  spirituels  like  “I’m  go¬ 
ing  down  to  de  River  Jordan  one  of  these  days,”  “Lord,  I 
want  to  be  a  Christian  in  my  heart,”  “My  Savior,  my  Lord, 
my  Jesus  is  makin’  up  my  dying  bed.”  The  preacher  leads 
in  the  singing  of  “Steal  away  to  Jesus.”  Beneath  the  or¬ 
derly,  reverent  service  runs  always  a  rhythm.  As  the  ser¬ 
mon  leads  up  to  its  climax,  many  feet  begin  to  patter,  one 
sister  weeps  softly,  another  continues  to  say  in  a  quiet  chant¬ 
ing  voice,  “Well  yes,  well  yes.”  There  are  occasional  amens. 

Then  suddenly,  as  at  the  moment  when  a  driver  throws 
out  the  clutch  and  the  car  spins  quietly  off  down  the  road, 
the  preacher  calmly  finishes  his  sermon,  mops  the  perspira¬ 
tion  from  his  brow,  and  announces  the  singing  of  more 
songs.  After  this  he  says:  “Now  let’s  open  the  door  for 
the  Lord,”  and  the  collection  is  taken.  After  the  benedic¬ 
tion,  when  the  people  are  dismissed,  dinner  is  served  on  the 
lawn;  and  later  another  service  is  held  despite  the  fact  that 
the  thermometer  runs  over  one  hundred  in  the  shade.  These 
folk  care  not  for  heat,  in  fact  the  hotter  it  is  the  better  they 
sing. 

Mr.  Edmondson’s  sermons  never  beat  around  the  bush. 
As  he  says,  “My  name  isn’t  J.  L.  Sullivan  for  nothing.” 
One  main  purpose  runs  through  his  work  in  this  parish — to 
make  his  people  aware  that  there  are  some  rights  in  this 
country  that  are  theirs ,  theirs  though  they  may  never  exer¬ 
cise  them;  that  when  their  boys  and  girls  grow  up  and  go 
out  into  the  world  they  should  be  such  as  to  cause  people 
to  say  simply — “There  goes  a  man,  or  there  goes  a  true 
woman”  “We’re  black,  yes,”  says  this  pastor,  “but  we  can 
be  men  and  women”  Better  citizenship,  better  homes,  better 
farms,  better  people — better  conditions  all  along  the  line — 
these  are  what  he  is  working  for  in  Lone  Oak  and  Mon- 
thalia. 


106 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


MEMBERSHIP 

The  total  enrollment  of  the  two  churches  is  two  hundred 
and  thirty-eight,  as  follows : 


Lone  Oak 

Monthalia 

Males  . 

39 

77 

Females  . 

46 

76 

85 

153 

Number  under  21 

....  35 

73 

Number  21  to  46  . 

27 

58 

Number  over  46  . . 

23 

22 

Forty-five  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  are  less  than 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  it  is  to  them  that  Mr.  Edmond¬ 
son  has  paid  special  attention  in  laying  out  his  program. 

Only  twenty-six  of  the  members  joined  the  churches  by 
letter,  two  hundred  and  twelve  by  confession  of  faith. 

Twenty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  colored  population  of  Lone 
Oak  and  26  per  cent,  of  the  colored  population  of  Monthalia 
are  church  members. 

The  total  gain  last  year  was  twenty-three  and  the  total 
loss  ten,  leaving  a  net  gain  of  thirteen  members.  Of  the 
total  gain  only  two  were  by  letter  and  of  the  twenty-one 
joining  by  confession  six  were  adult  males,  ten  adult 
females,  three  boys  and  two  girls. 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  membership  of  each  of  the  twTo  Sunday  schools  is 
still  only  half  that  of  the  church;  but  both  are  growing. 
Lone  Oak  Sunday  school  has  five  and  Monthalia  four 
classes,  with  memberships  of  forty-five  and  forty,  respec¬ 
tively.  All  the  members  live  on  farms.  The  average  at¬ 
tendance  at  both  ranges  from  thirty-five  to  forty.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  classes  they  are  divided  as  follows: 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


107 


Lone 

B. 


Beginners  .  3 

Primary  .  5 

Intermediate  .  3 

Senior  .  5 

Adult  Bible  class .  5 


21 


Oak 

Monthalia 

Total 

G. 

B. 

G. 

B. 

G. 

5 

5 

6 

8 

11 

4 

3 

6 

8 

10 

5 

4 

4 

7 

9 

9 

5 

9 

1 

4 

8 

9 

9 

24 

16 

24 

37 

48 

Grand ’Total 

85 

The  Beginners’  class  at  Lone  Oak  has  week-day  craft 
work  lessons  and  some  of  the  pupils  have  made  very  fine 
baskets,  etc.  In  the  primary  department  drawing  is  taught. 
Over  at  Monthalia  needle  work  is  included  in  the  week-day 
program  of  the  Sunday  school. 

One  of  Mr.  Edmondson’s  chief  interests  has  been  that  of 
leadership  training.  The  Sunday  school  superintendent  at 
Monthalia  is  a  model.  He  is  a  recent  convert  to  this  church. 
The  preacher,  on  taking  up  his  work  here,  found  this  man 
one  of  his  “hardest  customers.”  When  the  pastor  made  him 
superintendent,  people  laughed  and  said :  “He  won’t  ever 
’mount  to  nothin’.”  But  he  has  become  Mr.  Edmondson’s 
right-hand  man,  leads  the  singing  and  manages  the  school 
adequately.  And  every  Sunday  he  attends  a  large  class 
which  the  pastor  teaches. 

The  cradle  roll  at  Lone  Oak  has  seven  and  at  Monthalia 
five  members.  At  Lone  Oak  a  teacher-training  class  of 
eight  meets  weekly  with  Mr.  Edmondson.  The  course  of 
study  is  that  prescribed  by  the  Board  and  consists  of  a 
four-year  course.  To  increase  attendance,  membership  con¬ 
tests  are  held  frequently.  Sunday  school  picnics  are  for 
every  one  in  the  community.  There  are  also  quarterly  so¬ 
cials  for  the  whole  school.  A  fine  baseball  team  at  Lone 
Oak,  and  a  baseball  team  and  a  tennis  team  at  Monthalia, 
furnish  a  good  bit  of  sport  for  the  two  communities.  The 
players  are  whizzes  at  games,  which  are  the  chief  events 
of  all  big  gatherings.  The  girls  are  good  supporters  of  the 
teams  and  give  their  yells  and  sing  and  cheer. 


108 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


At  some  of  the  community  gatherings  as  many  as  three 
hundred  are  present.  They  are  just  big  family  affairs  where 
groups  get  acquainted ;  mothers  talk  over  their  problems  and 
swap  recipes ;  farmers  talk  crops  and  discuss  the  value  of 
“dipping”  their  cattle ;  young  folks  play  games ;  and  always 
there  are  plenty  of  “eats” — ice-cream  cones,  soda,  pop  be¬ 
tween  meals;  at  noon,  regular  banquets  with  fresh  fried 
catfish  from  the  Guadalupe,  fried  chicken,  which  is  Sister 
Moses’  specialty,  salads,  pies,  cakes.  Finer  cooks  would  be 
hard  to  find,  and  they  know  it  and  are  proud  of  it.  De¬ 
cision  Day  is  observed  with  good  results.  Quarterly  mis¬ 
sion  periods  are  held  and  regular  mission  offerings  are  sent 
to  the  M.  E.  Board.  Three  Monthalia  pupils  attend  Sam 
Houston  College  and  one  from  Lone  Oak  has  entered  Chris¬ 
tian  work  during  the  last  five  years. 

Four  representatives  from  each  school  attended  the  dis¬ 
trict  conference  last  year,  their  expenses  being  paid  by  the 
Sunday  school.  Both  schools  are  self-supporting.  Lone 
Oak  school  cost  for  running  last  year  $41  and  Monthalia 
$52. 


organizations 

The  list  on  page  109  shows  the  successful  result  of  Mr. 
Edmondson’s  attempt  to  build  up  a  well-organized  com¬ 
munity  program. 

The  church  program  includes  the  development  of  the 
spiritual,  social,  economic  and  physical  life.  Weekly  and 
quarterly  socials  are  held  for  the  young  people.  House  to 
house  family  socials  are  popular.  Special  community  days 
and  regular  holidays  are  observed — especially  Thanksgiving, 
Emancipation  Day  and  Christmas.  An  annual  Rural  Life 
Institute  is  held  in  the  interest  of  better  farms  and  homes. 
Special  lectures  on  health  are  given  from  time  to  time.  The 
church  and  its  various  organizations  care  for  the  sick  and 
the  poor.  Home  and  Farm  Improvement  lectures  and  mis¬ 
sion  talks  are  given;  study  classes  meet  with  both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Edmondson. 

Minstrel  shows  furnish  funds  for  special  needs.  The 


109 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 

\ 

MONTHALIA 


Aver.  Meetings 


Name 

Members 

Attend. 

a  Month 

Ages 

Ladies’  Aid . 

9 

9 

1 

20  up 

Brotherhood  .  . . . 

.  24 

20 

2 

20  up 

Epworth  League 

.  14 

12 

4 

9  to  20 

LONE 

OAK 

Aver. 

Meetings 

Name 

Members 

Attend. 

a  Month 

Ages 

Epworth  League 

9 

9 

6 

11  to  20 

W.H.M.S . 

8 

6 

2 

20  up 

Ladies’  Aid . 

6 

6 

2 

20  up 

Poultry  Club  . . . 

9 

9 

1 

7  to  18 

Garden  Club  . . . 

.  10 

8 

1 

9  to  17 

Corn  Club . 

8 

8 

1 

11  to  17 

Pig  Club . 

6 

6 

1 

9  to  16 

men  of  the  church  have  helped  to  improve  the  roads.  At 
Monthalia  entertainments  are  continually  being  given,  in¬ 
cluding  concerts,  plays  and  literary  entertainments.  The 
pastor  works  here  also  with  the  boys’  and  girls’  clubs  for 
better  gardens  and  live  stock ;  and  special  Bible  lectures  are 
given  through  the  winter.  To  help  in  the  work  of  the  cir¬ 
cuit,  Pastor  Edmondson  has  the  following  standing  com¬ 
mittees  : 

1.  Apportioned  Benevolences. 

2.  Christian  stewardship. 

3.  Foreign  Missions. 

4.  Home  Missions  and  church  extension. 

5.  Religious  Instruction. 

6.  Tracts. 

7.  Temperance. 

8.  Education. 

9.  Hospitals. 

10.  Education  for  Negroes. 

11.  Church  records. 

12.  Auditing  accounts. 


110 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


13.  Parsonage  and  furniture. 

14.  Church  music. 

15.  Estimating  ministerial  support. 

16.  Examination  of  local  preachers. 

From  this  list  will  be  seen  another  point  stressed  in  Mr. 
Edmondson’s  ministry.  He  believes  in  placing  responsibility 
upon  the  many,  not  only  to  lessen  his  own  load  but  more 
especially  to  impress  upon  his  people  that  they  are  really 
necessary  parts  of  the  organization. 

PUBLICITY 

The  pastor’s  mimeograph  is  a  busy  machine.  Announce¬ 
ments  are  sent  out  repeatedly  for  special  services.  A  weekly 
parish  paper  is  sent  into  every  colored  home.  Every  one 
looks  for  this  “Gonzales  Circuit  Rider.”  Some  of  the  folks 
save  the  numbers  and  bind  them  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The 
paper  is  full  of  news,  of  church  announcements,  of  inspira¬ 
tional  paragraphs.  The  pastor  is  the  editor,  illustrator  and 
publisher,  and  signs  himself  “Uncle  Munn.”  There  are 
Bible  quotations,  with  short  explanations  and  examples  given 
below.  There  are  paragraphs  written  in  by  members  of  the 
two  churches,  experiences  and  what  these  have  meant  in 
their  lives.  Sometimes  a  Sunday  school  lesson  is  explained 
in  this  paper.  It  says :  “Your  Uncle  Munn  will  welcome 
your  news — opinion — -advice  or  anything  you  want  pub¬ 
lished.  Send  them  in  early.  This  is  your  paper.” 

A  RESOURCEFUL  LEADER 

The  Reverend  J.  L.  S.  Edmondson  lives  at  Lone  Oak. 
He  receives  as  salary  from  his  two  churches  $700  and  from 
the  church  boards  $300  a  year.  His  buggy  is  the  most  fre¬ 
quently  seen  conveyance  in  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia. 

This  pastor  is  a  Mississippian  by  birth,  is  country-raised 
and  naturally  fits  a  rural  field.  He  has  worked  and  cooked 
and  thought  his  way  through  the  George  R.  Smith  College 
at  Sedalia,  Missouri,  and  through  Gammon  Seminary;  has 
studied  agriculture  at  the  Lincoln  Institute  and  taken  special 


THE  OLD  ORDER  CHANGETH 


111' 


summer  courses  in  canning,  preserving  and  meat-curing  at 
Wylie  School  for  pastors. 

The  Lone  Oak-Monthalia  charge  is  his  first  appointment 
and  he  has  been  there  five  years.  Looking  back  at  the  little 
cabin  where  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmondson  and  their  three 
young  children  live,  one  remembers  first  the  friendliness  of 
them  all.  Mrs.  Edmondson  has  a  “How-do-you-do  ?”  and  a 
friendly  smile  for  every  one  she  meets.  Mr.  Edmondson  is 
serious-minded ;  but  he  knows  how  to  laugh.  At  a  baseball 
game  he  is  the  liveliest  man  on  the  bleachers.  He  is  a  born 
leader,  a  genial,  human,  understanding  soul ;  and  he  has 
succeeded  through  sheer  work.  And  he  is  not  afraid.  From 
morning  till  night  this  pastor  and  his  wife  are  engaged  in 
the  business  of  serving  others  and  they  will  tell  you  “it  has 
paid.”  They  have  lifted  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia  out  of 
age-old  ruts  and  made  their  people  hold  up  their  heads. 
They  are  proud  of  the  people,  whom  they  have  found  so 
loyal  and  so  ready  to  cooperate  when  given  a  little  help  and 
encouragement. 

They  are  looking  forward  to  better  days  when,  with  the 
land  free  from  debt  and  with  new  church  equipment,  they 
may  the  more  independently  carry  on  the  great  work  so  nobly 
begun. 

They  are  out  for  better  schools.  The  dark  little  one-room 
shacks,  each  with  one  teacher  and  many  pupils — eighty-five 
at  Lone  Oak  and  seventy-six  at  Monthalia — are  no  longer 
good  enough.  One  improvement  begets  another;  and  now 
that  these  small  cotton  field  communities  have  begun  to 
come  into  their  own,  each  with  a  well-developed  leader¬ 
ship,  a  real  neighborhood  program,  independence  of  liveli¬ 
hood  and  a  renewed  assurance  that  it  really  counts — surely 
better  days  are  ahead. 

The  people  market  their  crops  and  go  to  the  movies  at 
Gonzales,  and  from  Gonzales  they  receive  their  mail ;  but  at 
home  in  Lone  Oak  and  Monthalia  they  have  found  that  a 
church  in  a  rural  community  can  minister  to  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  every  phase  of  community  life,  as  well  as  afford 
religious  instruction,  if  only,  as  Mr.  Edmondson  puts  it,  “the 
shepherd  and  the  sheep  will  travel  along  the  same  road.” 


Chapter  IX 

WHERE  THE  CHURCH  IS  EVERYTHING 

BUCKHORN,  KENTUCKY 

A  church  that  is  responsible  for  everything,  from  the  saw¬ 
mill  to  the  college. 

This  is  the  story  of  a  leavening  influence  in  a  section  of 
America  jealously  guarded  by  the  hand  of  a  prodigal 
Nature,  of  men  and  women  whose  ancestors  preferred 
these  almost  inaccessible  pockets  of  our  Southern  Appa¬ 
lachian  mountains  to  the  lure  of  our  western  prairies.  This 
mountain  chain  was  settled  by  a  purely  American  white 
population  of  English  and  Scotch  ancestry.  Perhaps  the 
latter  element  predominates  in  their  conservative  individual¬ 
istic  temperament,  for  instances  are  found  of  families  that 
migrated  westward  after  the  Civil  War,  but  who  soon  re¬ 
turned  to  their  native  Highlands. 

This  primitive  region  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
counties,  with  heavily  forested  mountains  teeming  in  coal 
and  mineral  riches  that  await  development,  is  incongruously 
described  as  “the  backyard  of  the  South.”  The  neglect  im¬ 
plied  in  this  phrase  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  these 
scattered  settlements  along  the  banks  of  creeks  and  rivers 
and  among  precipitous  mountains  have  no  political  signifi¬ 
cance.  Were  their  votes  more  effective  these  “backyard” 
citizens  would  receive  more  attention,  but  until  the  treasures 
of  their  mountains,  the  timber  and  minerals,  are  made  ac¬ 
cessible,  “backyard”  citizens  they  will  remain. 

Meanwhile  their  history  and  customs,  their  primitive  and 
secluded  life,  their  folklore  and  ballads,  and  especially  the 
fervor  and  tenacity  of  their  Protestant  faith,  compel  admi¬ 
ration.  It  is  this  primitive  American  civilization,  rather  than 

the  human  passions  and  feuds  which  have  given  this  region 

112 


WHERE  THE  CHURCH  IS  EVERYTHING  113 


publicity  and  obscured  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  people, 
that  commends  the  Southern  Highlander  to  our  attention. 
Our  social  and  religious  traditions  have  been  so  profoundly 
modified  that  it  is  good  to  rediscover  their  original  flavor. 

THE  CHOICE  OF  A  PARISH  CENTER 

The  scene  of  this  story  is  laid  in  the  Allegheny-Cumber- 
land  belt  of  the  Southern  Highlands.  Buckhorn,  in  Perry 
County,  Kentucky,  is  close  to  the  conjunction  of  Perry, 
Clay,  Leslie,  Owsley  and  Brethitt  counties.  The  nearest 
station  is  Altro,  Kentucky,  on  the  Lexington,  Jackson  and 
McRoberts  Branch  of  the  Louisville-Nashville  Railroad, 
one  hundred  and  thirteen  miles  southeast  of  Lexington.  The 
journey  from  Altro  is  one  of  eight  miles  in  the  saddle  over 
the  mountain  trails  and  precipitous  valleys  with  their  rush¬ 
ing  alpine  streams.  In  such  inspiring  scenery  live  the 
parishioners  of  Buckhorn.  It  is  a  surprise  to  find  a  strug¬ 
gling  valley  settlement  at  the  junction  of  the  Middle  Fork  of 
the  Kentucky  River  and  Squabble  Creek,  lighted  by  elec¬ 
tricity,  with  many  houses  furnished  with  baths  and  run¬ 
ning  water,  a  modern  group  of  buildings  whose  saw-  and 
grist-mills  and  barns  are  so  much  better  than  any  others 
encountered  in  the  region. 

If  this  parish  center  had  been  selected  for  its  natural 
scenery  alone  none  could  have  been  more  ideal.  But  other, 
more  practical,  considerations  entered  into  this  choice  of 
Buckhorn.  Here  was  a  settlement,  a  trade  center,  water¬ 
power,  an  unusual  amount  of  arable  land,  which  is  a  prime 
factor  in  this  mountainous  country,  timber  and  coal  in 
abundance.  The  chief  advantage  lay  in  the  fact  that  as  the 
valleys  are  the  travel  routes,  they  converged  upon  Buckhorn, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  accessible  points  in  a  difficult 
region. 

It  is  now  twenty  years  since  the  Rev.  Harvey  S.  Mur¬ 
dock  first  came  into  the  region  to  investigate  some  mission 
work  that  needed  funds.  He  had  completed  his  college  and 
seminary  courses  and  was  serving  his  apprenticeship  in  a 
branch  of  the  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  of 


114* 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  His  report  on  this  field  among  the  South¬ 
ern  Highlanders  was  so  favorable  that  the  necessary  funds 
were  granted,  and  the  young  pastor  received  and  accepted 
the  call  to  his  life  work.  To-day  Buckhorn  church  has  a 
membership  of  seven  hundred  and  four,  a  group  of  buildings 
that  are  rendering  a  great  service  to  the  far-flung  mountain 
community,  a  valuable  tract  of  land  for  agricultural  demon¬ 
stration  purposes  and  recreation,  a  loyal  group  of  supporters 
and  workers,  and  a  growing  army,  whose  numbers  unfor¬ 
tunately  have  not  been  recorded,  of  those  who  have  passed 
through  its  school  and  church  influence  and  are  spreading  it 
in  less  favored  communities. 

NATURE  A  STERN  NURSE 

The  social  and  religious  conditions  of  the  people  among 
whom  Mr.  Murdock  began  his  life  work  were  primitive. 
The  extreme  isolation  developed  and  concreted  certain  opin¬ 
ions,  practices  and  characteristics  that  had  grown  to  menace 
the  people  of  the  region.  This  was  due  to  the  general  condi¬ 
tion  of  illiteracy  and  the  lack  of  remedial  education.  More 
than  20  per  cent,  of  the  voting  males  were  illiterate  and  a 
much  higher  proportion  of  the  women  and  children.  The 
local  schools  were  of  the  most  primitive  character,  and  even 
now,  as  then,  the  children  are  kept  from  school  for  seasonal 
harvests  or  labor. 

Certain  advantages  among  a  primitive  society  like  this 
commend  themselves  to  the  attention,  and  part  of  the  suc¬ 
cess  attained  by  Mr.  Murdock’s  work  in  Buckhorn  and  its 
vicinity  is  due  to  utilizing  them.  Necessity  and  close  con¬ 
tact  with  a  relentless  nature  have  given  these  people  an 
elemental  wisdom  in  the  use  of  their  natural  resources. 
Coal  is  cropped  from  the  surface  of  the  mountains,  and 
nearly  every  family  has  its  little  mine.  The  highlanders 
have  learned  to  satisfy  their  wants  and  needs  as  far  as  pos¬ 
sible  from  their  environment,  and  while  their  environment 
has  at  the  same  time  closed  them  in  from  the  progressive 
world,  it  has  compensated  for  this  by  developing  a  sturdy 
character  that  is  instinct  with  self-reliance.  They  have,  how- 


WHERE  THE  CHURCH  IS  EVERYTHING  115 


ever,  for  so  long  done  things  for  themselves  that  theory, 
when  applied  to  such  problems  as  their  unsanitary  condi¬ 
tions,  their  physical  and  mental  disabilities,  is  not  always 
cordially  received. 

This  intense  individualism  has  shaped  the  ethical  and 
social  standards  of  these  southern  mountaineers.  In  their 
isolation  they  have  for  so  long  waged  warfare  in  order  to 
survive  against  the  laws  of  a  relentless,  prodigal  nature 
that,  having  triumphed  and  successfully  controlled  them, 
they  are  not  readily  amenable  to  the  laws  of  man.  They 
have  for  so  long  been  a  law  to  themselves  in  the  course 
of  their  long  isolation  in  these  mountain  fastnesses  that 
the  slow  and  distant  machinery  of  law  and  justice  irks 
their  sensitive  and  passionate  temperament.  Crimes  of  vio¬ 
lence  and  feuds  are  common  in  so  primitive  and  individual¬ 
istic  a  society.  When  the  whole  mountain  population  is  so 
closely  interrelated  that  the  accused  must  of  necessity  be 
tried  by  a  jury  consisting  of  his  own  or  his  victim’s  rela¬ 
tions,  there  is  little  prospect  of  obtaining  justice  from  a 
court.  The  same  condition  has  led  to  their  reputation  as 
“moonshiners.”  Being  individualists,  they  are  not  easily 
convinced  that,  because  one  has  money  with  which  to  secure 
a  license  to  distill  whisky,  he  has  therefore  the  right  to 
make  and  sell  it,  while  a  poor  man  unable  to  purchase  a 
license  must  be  punished. 

Into  this  society  the  modern  world  must  bring  its  eco¬ 
nomic,  social  and  spiritual  resources.  Until  the  great  natural 
wealth  in  timber  and  minerals  brings  the  railroad  and  im¬ 
proves  communications,  these  little  isolated  communities 
must  depend  on  outside  agencies  to  bring  them  into  touch 
with  the  privileges  and  benefits  they  need.^  At  present  they 
subsist  on  farming;  corn,  potatoes,  sorghum  and  garden 
vegetables,  with  very  little  fruit,  constitute  their  entire  out¬ 
put.  Sheep  furnish  them  with  food  and  clothing. 

In  these  homes  the  spinning  wheel  is  still  in  use  for 
blankets  and  articles  of  domestic  use.  Their  quilts  are 
elaborately  made  and  together  with  baskets  have  become 
articles  of  export  trade.  Manufactured  clothing  is  preferred 
to  the  homespun  garments  of  their  forefathers,  but  at  Buck- 


116 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


horn  efforts  are  being  made  to  encourage  the  weaving  of 
tweeds  as  the  fireside  industry  for  which  their  Scottish  an¬ 
cestors  are  still  famous.  Besides  sheep,  which  thrive  among 
their  mountains,  the  small  amount  of  low-lying  land  avail¬ 
able  for  cultivation  and  grazing  limits  their  stock  to  mules, 
pigs  and  a  few  cattle.  Their  homes  require  sites  on  this 
precious  land  so  that  the  average  tillable  land  per  farm  is 
two  to  three  acres,  with  additional  cultivation  running  up 
and  down  the  mountainside  at  sharp  angles.  These  slender 
agricultural  resources  keep  the  people  poverty-stricken,  espe¬ 
cially  as  families  average  six  and  one-half  persons. 

Through  the  long  years  of  their  isolation  these  moun¬ 
taineers  have  made  their  religious  beliefs  an  important  part 
of  their  narrow  intellectual  and  emotional  life.  What  forms 
of  worship  they  brought  into  these  mountains,  or  such  as 
have  found  their  way  into  their  fastness  to  modify  pro¬ 
foundly  the  original  belief  and  practice,  are  now  jealously 
guarded.  The  old  toiler-preacher  was  their  only  pastoral 
experience.  Being  of  their  own  soil  and  tradition  he  brought 
them  nothing  that  would  lift  them  out  of  themselves. 

“a  community  of  idealists’’ 

For  the  type  of  Christian  service  required  in  such  com¬ 
munities  the  worker  must  possess  special  qualifications.  The 
pioneers  of  the  Buckhorn  work  were  people  who  loved 
nature  and  the  simple  people  who  lived  so  close  to 
nature.  They  learned  to  appreciate  the  silence  of  the  great 
mountains  and  little  valleys  or  bottom  lands  along  the  creeks 
and  rivers  where  the  settlements  lay,  the  trees,  birds  and 
flowers.  A  few  years  ago  Newell  Buck,  the  author  of  “The 
Call  of  the  Cumberlands,”  visited  this  little  community 
center,  and  wrote:  “I  found  at  Buckhorn  a  company  of 
idealists  who  were  attempting  the  impossible,  and  the  strang¬ 
est  thing  about  it  is  that  they  are  succeeding.”  How  well 
they  have  been  succeeding  the  Buckhorn  of  1922  must  an¬ 
swer,  if  only  in  part. 

These  workers  relied  upon  the  deep  religious  conviction 
of  the  people  and  their  response  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as 


THE  BUCKHORN  SETTLEMENT 


THE  PASTOR  MAKES  HIS  ROUNDS  AND  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  TEACHER  RIDES 
TO  HER  CLASS  ON  MULEBACK 


ABOVE  IS  A  GROUP  OF  URCHINS  WHO 
HAVE  RECENTLY  BEGUN  ATTENDING 
THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 

BELOW  ARE  TWO  SENIOR  STUDENTS 
JUST  FINISHING  THEIR  COURSE 


WHERE  THE  CHURCH  IS  EVERYTHING  117 


THE  BUCKHORN  PLANT 


118 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


preached  by  the  Protestant  Church,  in  whose  traditions  they 
and  their  ancestors  are  steeped.  With  this  common  Chris¬ 
tian  understanding  the  workers  at  Buckhorn  have  slowly 
gained  the  confidence  of  this  shy,  suspicious,  individualistic 
people  by  their  economic,  social  and  religious  services  to 
Buckhorn  as  well  as  those  communities  in  the  vicinity.  They 
have  created  a  new  center  out  of  Buckhorn,  grinding  corn 
and  sawing  lumber,  caring  for  the  sick  folk  and  educating 
the  young  people.  But  the  church  has  been  the  real  center 
of  all  these  services  and  activities.  The  ideal  of  Christian 
brotherhood  and  service  is  the  only  one  wherewith  to  combat 
the  religious  and  social  demarcations,  that  begin  with  re¬ 
ligious  dissension  and  narrow  sectarianism  and  end  in  family 
feuds  and  a  non-moral  atmosphere  of  law-breaking  and 
prejudice  against  all  forms  of  enlightenment. 

The  Buckhorn  parish  is  organized  and  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  as  the  Buckhorn  Asso¬ 
ciation.  The  church,  however,  does  not  belong  to  the  Asso¬ 
ciation,  but  to  the  community :  even  though  it  was  built  out 
of  the  same  funds  that  created  the  other  buildings,  it  stands 
outside  the  enclosure.  The  school  buildings,  together  with 
a  saw-  and  grist-mill,  the  farm  and  its  barn,  electric  light  and 
water  plants,  are  all  the  property  of  the  Buckhorn  Associa¬ 
tion,  with  offices  in  New  York.  The  Dr.  Brainard  Memorial 
Hospital  was  established  by  a  friend  of  the  Buckhorn  work 
in  1910.  It  has  a  doctor,  ten  beds  and  a  paid  nurse  with  two 
special  nurses  to  help  her.  During  a  year  about  two  thou¬ 
sand  treatments  were  given  in  its  clinics.  The  doctor  is  paid 
partly  by  the  hospital  and  partly  by  the  community.  The 
farm  is  demonstrating  the  possibilities  of  the  soil. 

THE  PLANT  AND  EQUIPMENT 

The  church  school  is  independent  of  the  state,  but  the 
state  avails  itself  of  the  efficient  staff  and  modern  equipment 
by  paying  Buckhorn  school  $1,000  to  $1,190  a  year  for 
taking  over  the  pupils  of  the  district  school  for  seven 
months.  Buckhorn  has  its  own  permanent  educational  pro¬ 
gram  interpreted  by  a  staff  of  twelve  to  fifteen  teachers,  with 


WHERE  THE  CHURCH  IS  EVERYTHING  119 

buildings  that  house  teachers  and  pupils.  In  this  school 
pupils  of  both  sexes  are  taught  from  kindergarten  through 
high  school  and  prepared  for  college.  The  natural  aptitude 
of  the  children  of  this  independent,  self-reliant  race  schooled 
in  adversity,  is  exploited  by  Buckhorn  to  the  utmost.  The 
children,  like  their  parents,  are  accustomed  to  make  nearly 
all  the  implements  of  daily  life,  and  full  scope  is  given  to 
this  genius  under  expert  teachers  in  the  technical  courses  of 
the  Manual  Training  School,  a  building  30'x22',  equipped 
with  tools  and  simple  machinery.  The  girls  also  receive 
technical  training  in  the  Domestic  Science  Hall,  36'  x  40', 
and  two  stories  high.  There  are  also  a  Primary  Hall, 
36'  x  44',  with  two  rooms ;  a  kindergarten,  22'  x  34',  equipped 
with  the  latest  educational  devices ;  a  two-story  home, 
40'  x  50',  for  small  boys  orphaned  and  stranded  in  the  moun¬ 
tains;  a  three-story  dormitory,  88' x  36',  for  seventy-five 
older  boys,  with  a  two-story  addition,  32' x  14';  a  two-and- 
one-half  story  home,  54'  x  68',  for  little  girls ;  a  three-story 
dormitory,  54'  x  48',  for  seventy-five  older  girls ;  and  a  two- 
story  building,  88'  x  48',  used  as  a  dining-hall. 

The  children  of  these  mountaineers,  doing  their  share  of 
labor  from  an  early  age,  know  how  to  work,  but  they  must 
learn  to  play.  The  school  plant  now  includes  a  gymnasium, 
103'  5"  x  7Y  5",  with  basketball  for  the  girls  and  young  boys 
and  other  organized  games.  The  pastor  is  an  old  college 
“fan,”  and  it  is  natural  to  find  a  good  baseball  team  whose 
prowess  is  known  in  Lexington,  Winchester,  and  other  urban 
and  mountain  centers.  The  pastor  has  personal  charge  of 
its  training,  and  it  is  in  the  difficult  role  of  umpire  that  his 
associate  is  spreading  the  code  of  sportsmanship  among  the 
children  who  did  not  know  how  to  play,  and  to  whom  the 
idea  of  competition  or  rivalry  raised  the  latent  passion  of 
family  feud. 

WHERE  THE  POPULATION  GOES  TO  CHURCH 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  say  that  every  one  reached  by 
Buckhorn  parish  is  a  worshiper,  but  it  is  accurate  to  say 
that  wherever  the  church  has  had  a  preaching  point  for 
five  or  six  years,  practically  every  one  attends  church.  This 


120 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


is  chiefly  a  tribute  to  the  deep  religious  sentiment  that  is 
one  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  these  mountaineers. 
Buckhorn’s  church  auditorium  comfortably  seats  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  people,  but  it  is  a  common  thing  to  find 
seats  for  an  overflow  amounting  to  about  four  hundred  and 
seventy-five.  The  regular  attendance  averages  three  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  out  of  a  membership  of  seven  hundred  and 
four.  Besides  the  Wednesday  evening  service,  with  an  at¬ 
tendance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty,  Buckhorn  church  con¬ 
ducts  a  series  of  evangelistic  meetings  which  last  for  a  week 
or  more  in  every  preaching  point  of  the  parish.  Its  Sunday 
school,  however,  has  the  phenomenal  total  membership  of 
one  thousand  and  thirty.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
adults  attend  Sunday  school  and  remain  for  the  church 
service  which  follows.  Buckhorn  has  a  Christian  Endeavor 
Society  meeting  with  a  membership  of  about  two  hundred. 

Buckhorn  village  has  increased  about  100  per  cent,  during 
the  twenty  years  of  parochial  work.  As  indicated,  the  work 
is  not  confined  to  Buckhorn  proper.  Every  neighborhood  in 
the  vicinity  is  served  by  the  two  ministers,  aided  by  teachers 
from  the  school.  Nearly  a  dozen  preaching  points  are  in 
active  operation,  and  the  total  Buckhorn  parish  enrolls  nearly 
a  thousand  members,  with  eighty-nine  added  during  the  past 
year.  This  is  in  a  community  of  about  two  thousand  people. 

The  evangelistic  services  conducted  by  Buckhorn  at  these 
various  points  are  not  through  imported  evangelists  but  by 
the  ministers  of  the  parish,  of  whom  two  are  stationed  at 
Buckhorn  and  one  at  Cow  Creek.  The  latter  parish  is  not 
strictly  a  part  of  Buckhorn,  though  it  is  the  result  of  Buck¬ 
horn  endeavors.  Cow  Creek  school  was  built  and  organized 
by  the  Buckhorn  Association,  which  is  now  organized  as  a 
congregation.  This  has  been  the  history  of  all  but  two  or 
three  churches  within  the  Presbytery,  which  bears  the  name 
of  the  parent  church — Buckhorn. 

FINANCES 

For  a  short  period,  $2,400  was  received  from  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions,  specially  designated  by  the  Lafayette 


WHERE  THE  CHURCH  IS  EVERYTHING  121 


Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  for  Buck- 
horn  parish.  This  method  of  support  continued  until  five 
years  ago,  when  the  work  was  incorporated  as  the  Buckhorn 
Association  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York.  The 
State  of  Kentucky  contributes  about  $1,000  for  the  seven- 
month  school  service,  and  the  people,  in  proportion  to  their 
limited  means,  pay  their  share,  amounting  to  about  $1.08 
per  capita.  During  the  past  year  Buckhorn  parish  itself  has 
contributed  $334  for  benevolences.  There  is  no  general 
appeal  for  funds  outside  of  the  parish.  Mr.  Murdock  an¬ 
nually  presents  his  budget  and  explains  the  needs  to  the 
friends  of  the  parish,  most  of  whom  are  in  the  Lafayette 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  the 
sum,  amounting  to  about  $25,000  per  annum,  is  sub¬ 
scribed. 

The  Sunday  services  are  not,  however,  the  full  extent  of 
the  religious  work.  All  the  pupils  in  school  attend  chapel 
services  at  eight  o’clock  in  the  school  hall  before  the  classes 
begin  for  the  day.  In  each  class  the  teacher  has  a  period 
for  the  study  of  religion  and  the  Bible.  This  religious  train¬ 
ing  is  in  the  mountain  tradition  where  the  daily  life  of  the 
people  is  full  of  Biblical  maxims  and  texts.  Thus  the  school 
avails  itself  of  this  tradition  and  relates  the  religious  train¬ 
ing  to  all  the  subjects,  especially  in  domestic  and  social 
science.  It  would  be  hard  accurately  to  assess  the  rich  fruit¬ 
age  of  this  work.  The  records  of  graduates  have  not  been 
fully  kept.  Hundreds  have  passed,  during  twenty  years, 
through  the  school  and  church  influence  of  Buckhorn,  going 
as  preachers,  teachers  or  home  makers  to  the  farthest  re¬ 
cesses  of  the  region  and  beyond.  Some  idea  can  be  obtained 
by  the  fact  that  during  these  twenty  years  more  than  four 
hundred  of  these  pupils  became  teachers.  Moreover,  the 
Vice-president  of  Buckhorn,  the  heads  of  the  departments 
of  manual  training,  agriculture,  mathematics,  English  and 
history  are  all  mountain  boys  graduated  at  Buckhorn.  Not 
such  a  large  proportion  of  women  teachers  are  so  trained, 
but  all  have  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  people.  It 
has  been  found  necessary  to  decline  pupils  owing  to  lack  of 
accommodation.  At  present  about  four  hundred  students 


122  CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 

are  educated  annually  from  kindergarten  through  high 
school. 


WHEN  THE  ANGELUS  RINGS 

The  best  evidence  of  the  work  and  its  influence  in  the 
region  is  the  social  and  religious  spirit  that  is  a  precious 
Christian  leaven  in  a  great  wilderness.  But  it  should  be 
remembered  that  these  people  have  long  preserved  a  religious 
spirit,  through  years  of  isolation,  which  was  their  only  solace 
and  comfort  in  a  hard  life  of  adversity.  One  has  merely  to 
hear  the  angelus  which  calls  the  parish  to  prayer  every  day 
to  understand  this  fervor.  There  is  no  fixed  time  for  the 
angelus,  but  an  elderly  woman  for  many  years  has  rung 
the  bell,  and  as  its  first  stroke  echoes  up  and  down  the 
wooded  valleys  every  man,  woman  and  child  for  a  few 
moments  bows  the  head  in  reverence.  There  may  be  a 
clatter  of  dishes  and  a  babble  of  conversation  in  the  dining 
hall,  or  cries  of  children  in  the  playground,  or  a  lonely 
man  or  boy  working  in  a  patch  on  the  mountainside.  But 
all  heed  the  angelus  and  cease  for  a  moment’s  prayer.  It  is 
a  beautiful  custom,  and  one  that  is  naturally  and  essentially 
the  outward  sign  of  the  soul  of  these  Southern  moun¬ 
taineers. 


Chapter  X 

THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CENTER 
DAVIS,  CALIFORNIA 

Where  the  church  has  become  the  hub  of  a  perfect  wheel, 
whose  rim  encircles  the  entire  community  with  all  its 
agencies. 

“We  put  the  churches  at  the  bottom  of  the  list  as  a  kind 
of  Christian  foundation  to  the  general  business  of  the  town,” 
says  an  early  history  of  Davis,  California,  in  true  New  Eng¬ 
land  fashion.  Had  the  historian  visited  this  prosperous  little 
community  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  in  1919,  just  fifty 
years  after  the  organization  of  its  one  permanent  Protestant 
church,  he  would  have  been  surprised  to  find  that  the 
church  had  just  begun  to  fulfill  its  responsibility  to  Davis 
as  a  “Christian  foundation  to  the  general  business  of  the 
town.” 

Religious  services,  prayer  meetings,  Sunday  school  and 
occasional  socials  were  being  held,  it  is  true;  but  in  this 
educational  center,  which  was  growing  chiefly  because  of  the 
development  of  its  agricultural  college  there  was  no  pro¬ 
gram  equal  to  the  need.  There  was  no  special  connecting 
link  between  the  church  and  the  community.  As  for  busi¬ 
ness  relations,  they  had  never  entered  Davis'  church-con¬ 
sciousness.  Descendants  of  easterners  who  flocked  west  in 
1849  in  search  of  their  “place  in  the  sun”  and  who  found  it 
not  in  the  gold  fields  but  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Sacra¬ 
mento  River,  the  people  of  Davis  to-day  are  proud,  prac¬ 
tical,  conservative,  and  prosperous.  The  community  grew 
up  with  the  idea  that  “good  fences  make  good  neighbors” 
and  cooperative  development  was  almost  unknown  before 

the  coming  of  the  College  of  Agriculture  in  1910.  When, 

123 


124 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


from  seventy-seven  tracts  under  consideration,  Davis  was 
chosen  as  the  location  for  this  institution,  the  sleepy  little 
village  began  to  show  its  first  signs  of  progress.  From  that 
time  on  the  population  steadily  increased.  Up-to-date  busi¬ 
ness  and  farming  methods  fostered  by  the  college  were  ex¬ 
tended  throughout  the  community.  New  life  in  Davis  gave 
this  all-American  village  something  to  live  up  to.  Its  75  per 
cent.  Protestant  population  early  learned  the  lesson  of  “less 
church,  more  religion.”  Religious  competition,  church  feuds 
and  denominational  antagonisms  have  been  entirely  lacking 
in  its  history. 

Davis  is  unusual  in  that  its  eighteen  hundred  inhabitants 
are  served  by  only  two  churches — the  Roman  Catholic 
church,  with  a  small  but  constant  membership,  and  the  Com¬ 
munity  Presbyterian  church  which  is  now  the  very  hub  of 
the  community,  vitally  connected  with  every  agency  and 
interest  in  the  town.  The  present  building,  which  bears  wit¬ 
ness  to  the  forward-looking  spirit  of  the  people  who  planned 
it,  has  beneath  its  bungalow  roof,  a  well-equipped  audi¬ 
torium,  a  social  hall,  seven  separate  Sunday  school  rooms 
and  a  businesslike  little  office.  Evidently  its  builders  hoped 
that  some  day  a  real  community  program  might  be  carried 
on,  though  until  recently  there  were  few  who  believed  such 
a  program  possible.  Leadership  there  was,  but  not  in  action. 
Church  funds  were  not  systematically  handled.  The  organi¬ 
zation,  like  every  other  institution  in  Davis^  was  looking  out 
for  its  own  ends  and  quite  indifferent  to  its  responsibility 
beyond  teaching  religion. 

READY  TO  START;  BUT  STALLED 

It  was  in  1919  that  Rev.  Nathan  Fiske  became  pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  student  pastor  of  the  College 
of  Agriculture.  For  years  this  man  had  dreamed  of  serving 
an  entire  community  through  the  well-rounded  program  of 
just  one  strong  central  church  organization ;  and  here  in 
Davis  he  found  his  opportunity  to  make  his  dream  a  reality. 

He  noted  the  church  equipment,  reasonably  adequate  for 
the  housing  of  his  program;  the  church’s  location,  in  the 


THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CENTER 


125 


very  heart  of  Davis ;  the  kind  of  people  who  attended  serv¬ 
ices  ;  the  well-organized  groups  of  men  and  women,  students, 
professors,  business  men,  Bible  class  and  Ladies’  Aid — all 
progressive,  with  unlimited  possibilities  for  leadership  if 
united  in  a  common  purpose.  He  noted  the  new  $100,000 
school  building,  new  homes  being  built  and  new  people  com¬ 
ing  in;  the  growing  college  and  the  leadership  it  repre¬ 
sented;  the  prosperous  farms;  the  splendid  location  of  the 
community  with  regard  to  markets.  He  found  that  each  day 
thirty-four  stages  and  thirty-six  passenger  trains  passed 
through  Davis.  He  visioned  the  sort  of  future  this  com¬ 
munity  had  every  right  to  expect,  with  greater  San  Fran¬ 
cisco  less  than  one  hundred  miles  to  the  south  and  Sacra¬ 
mento  just  next  door.  The  fact  that  the  Pacific  and  the 
Lincoln  Highways  crossed  each  other  at  Davis  and  that 
here  was  the  junction  point  of  the  Union  and  the  Southern 
Pacific  railroads,  meant  inevitable  progress  to  this  pastor, 
who  was  also  a  shrewd  business  man.  But  he  saw  also 
that  the  business  men  were  proceeding  without  reference  to 
the  surrounding  farmers,  who,  for  the  most  part,  were  still 
working  out  their  problems  alone.  The  community  was 
running  at  loose  ends.  The  task  presented  to  Mr.  Fiske  was 
that  of  tying  this  central  community  church  in  some  way 
to  every  agency  in  the  village;  and  he  determined  to  treat 
his  problem  as  a  business  proposition. 

His  first  move,  then,  was  a  challenge  to  the  leadership  of 
Davis  which,  as  he  expected,  immediately  rose  to  its  feet, 
100  per  cent,  strong.  It  was  as  if  the  citizens  of  the  com¬ 
munity  had  been  waiting  for  his  coming.  Soon  after  Mr. 
Fiske  came  to  Davis,  a  meeting  was  held  to  talk  over  plans 
for  the  sewerage  system  for  the  village.  County  and  state 
officials  were  present  and  citizens  heard  much  helpful  dis¬ 
cussion.  Yards  had  open  cesspools,  some  of  them  so  many 
that  their  owners  knew  not  where  to  dig  another.  At  the 
close  of  the  discussion  not  a  citizen  of  Davis  had  anything 
to  say,  and  the  motion  was  made  to  adjourn.  Even  then  no 
one  said  a  word.  Mr.  Fiske,  though  a  newcomer,  could 
stand  it  no  longer.  He  rose  to  his  feet.  He  spoke  only  a 
few  words  but  they  were  scathing  ones.  The  sewerage  system 


126 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


was  to  cost  only  $5,500  and  he  asked  those  present  why 
they  were  going  to  allow  a  delay  in  putting  through  this 
project  so  sorely  needed.  He  asked  which  of  those  men  was 
willing  to  lose  one  of  his  own  children  for  the  sum  of  $5,500, 
and  told  them  what  a  plague  of  typhoid  might  mean  to 
Davis  and  perhaps  to  their  own  families  if  they  did  not 
take  immediate  action  toward  bettering  sanitary  conditions. 
Before  he  had  finished,  three  men  were  on  their  feet  ready 
to  talk.  They  had  been  wanting  to  say  something  all  the 
while  but  were  unaccustomed  to  speaking  and  each  had  been 
waiting  for  the  others.  A  vote  resulted  in  a  decision  which 
in  short  order  put  through  the  sewerage  project. 

A  BUSINESSLIKE  START 

One  of  the  first  developments  at  the  church  was  the 
introduction  of  a  systematic  method  of  raising  money. 
Twenty  teams  were  sent  out  for  the  first  annual  every-mem- 
ber  canvass.  The  work  was  quickly  accomplished,  for  every 
one  was  found  ready  and  willing  to  cooperate  in  the  cam¬ 
paign,  and  50  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  subscribed  came 
from  non-members.  Since  1920  benevolences  have  tripled, 
and  all  because  of  organized  effort. 

Up  to  two  years  ago  the  business  men  had  had  an  organi¬ 
zation  to  which  only  business  men  could  belong.  They 
looked  out  for  their  own  narrow  interests,  and  that  was  all. 
When  Mr.  Fiske  arrived,  they  saw  that  he  meant  business 
and  began  to  get  acquainted  with  him;  they  saw  that  he 
would  be  a  valuable  member  of  their  organization  and  de¬ 
cided  to  stretch  a  point  and  ask  him  to  join.  After  all,  was 
he  not  a  business  man  with  a  very  real  business  at  the  com¬ 
munity  church?  He  was  admitted.  Then  later  the  question 
arose  as  to  whether  or  not  farmers  should  be  classed  as 
business  men.  And  then  came  the  college  professors.  Were 
they  not  business  men?  Well,  the  question  was  duly  argued 
to  a  finish  and  the  result  was  that  all  were  asked  to  join 
the  business  men’s  organization,  which  learned  many  things 
from  its  new  members  with  their  varied  experience.  Before 
anybody  knew  it,  this  organization  had  become  a  full-fledged 


THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CENTER 


127 


chamber  of  commerce.  Prejudices,  once  strong  between 
town  and  country,  were  broken  down,  and  the  farmer  and 
the  business  man  found  that  their  problems  were,  after  all, 
each  other’s.  Suspicions  died  a  natural  death. 

Next  Mr.  Fiske  became  chaplain  of  the  Masonic  Lodge, 
and  thus  was  made  a  connection  between  church  and  lodge 
activities.  To  forward  civic  improvement  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  he  accepted  the  office  of  Board  Director  of  the 
Community  Service  organization.  Meantime  he  was  visit¬ 
ing  throughout  his  parish.  He  could  talk  chickens  with  the 
farmers  because  he  had  raised  chickens  and  in  fact  had  paid 
for  his  first  automobile  with  egg  money.  He  had  preached 
the  Gospel  to  the  lumberjack,  the  cowboy,  the  city  man  and 
the  farmer,  and  was  at  home  with  them  all. 

TYING  UP  WITH  THE  COMMUNITY 

An  opportunity  soon  offered  itself  for  the  linking  of 
church  and  school.  Only  a  few  of  the  pupils  who  went 
regularly  to  the  high  school  at  Woodlands  were  from  fami¬ 
lies  owning  automobiles ;  and  those  who  had  machines  were 
accustomed  to  crowd  the  others  into  their  cars  and  race  all 
the  way  to  Woodlands.  It  was  a  dangerous  proceeding  and 
each  day  the  parents  became  more  worried.  Mr.  Fiske,  with 
the  school  principal  and  a  few  leading  citizens,  conceived  the 
idea  of  forming  an  association  and  purchasing  a  school  bus. 
Every  child’s  parent  had  to  join  this  organization  before  the 
child  could  ride  on  the  school  bus.  Every  member  was 
asked  to  go  on  a  note  at  the  bank  for  $3,000,  with  which  a 
truck  was  purchased;  and  a  top  was  made  to  order  under 
the  personal  supervision  of  the  pastor.  A  driver  was  hired 
at  $100  a  month,  who  should  be  responsible  for  the  trips 
and  report  any  misdemeanors.  Every  member  agreed  to 
stay  by  the  association,  unless  he  moved  away,  or  until  his 
child  should  leave  school.  The  bus,  driver  and  children  were 
all  adequately  insured — the  children  against  accident  and 
death  and  the  car  against  accident,  fire  and  theft.  Then 
those  in  charge  went  to  the  high  school  in  Woodlands  and 
obtained  from  the  authorities  an  appropriation  of  five  dollars 


128 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


for  each  child  riding.  Ten  dollars  a  month  per  child  was 
paid  by  the  association,  making  a  net  cost  of  five  dollars 
per  child  for  the  parent.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  in 
addition  to  paying  the  driver,  upkeep  and  insurance,  the 
association  had  paid  $1,400  on  the  original  note.  This  year 
an  effort  is  being  made  to  obtain  the  services  of  a  Wood' 
lands  teacher  who  will  ride  back  and  forth  on  the  bus  and 
act  as  supervisor.  The  association  agrees  to  pay  for  her 
board  and  room.  The  charge  per  child  will  not  be  in¬ 
creased  and  the  same  rebate  will  be  received  from  the  high 
school  at  Woodlands;  but  the  remainder  of  the  debt  will 
be  paid  in  part  this  year  and  in  part  next.  By  a  third  year, 
transportation  costs  can  be  reduced  and  the  remainder  of  the 
debt  easily  paid. 

Day  school  and  Sunday  school  began  to  join  annually  in 
a  great  picnic.  Last  year  this  real  young  people’s  com¬ 
munity  celebration  began  with  a  big  parade.  There  were 
class  yells,  and  one  of  the  business  men  furnished  a  band 
for  the  affair.  Then  off  they  all  went  in  trucks,  banners  fly¬ 
ing,  the  cars  all  decorated,  to  the  picnic  grounds  near  the 
canal.  “They  painted  things  red.  It  was  a  humdinger 
picnic,”  said  the  pastor.  The  community  is  behind  school 
development,  body  and  soul.  “We’re  all  one”  is  the  spirit. 

Mr.  Fiske  is  a  member  of  the  Parent-Teachers’  Associa¬ 
tion,  which  has  become  very  active  in  Davis  and  which 
last  year  put  in  cement  walks  around  the  new  school  build¬ 
ing  and  furnished  funds  for  free  lunches.  The  lunches  were 
much  needed,  for  the  county  nurse  found  60  per  cent,  of 
the  children  under  weight,  despite  the  fact  that  they  live  in 
the  healthy  climate  of  this  wonderful  valley.  It  was  the 
Parent-Teachers’  Association  which,  with  the  help  of  the 
Community  Service  organization,  bought  the  new  play¬ 
ground  apparatus. 

A  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School  was  successfully  held  in 
1922  with  an  enrollment  of  fifty-five.  The  school  authorities 
offered  the  use  of  the  building  for  the  course,  and  one  busi¬ 
ness  man  was  so  interested  that  he  asked  Mr.  Fiske  if  he 
might  have  a  moving  picture  made  of  the  activities  of  the 
school.  He  came  early  one  morning  and  did  not  leave  until 


DAVIS  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


THE  DAILY  VACATION  BIBLE  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  TEACHING  OF  WHICH  THE  EX- 
SERVICE  MAN  ON  THE  LEFT  HAS  VOLUNTEERED  HIS  SERVICES 


THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CENTER 


129 


long  after  noon.  A  hundred-foot  reel  was  made,  showing 
all  that  happened  during  the  session.  This  reel  was  shown 
at  the  Synod  meeting  at  Pasadena  and  was  found  to  be  the 
only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 

WIDENING  THE  FIELD  OF  SERVICE 

When  the  school  opened  it  was  thought  that  if  fifteen 
pupils  enrolled  it  would  be  all  one  could  hope  for.  But  the 
membership  grew  daily.  The  children  were  delighted. 
There  were  classes  in  handwork  and  sewing;  there  were 
story  hours,  with  perhaps  a  real  parade  down  to  the  church 
for  a  movie ;  there  were  games  and  yells  and  songs.  Some¬ 
times,  during  the  surprise  period,  they  all  went  downtown 
for  ice  cream  cones — in  short,  the  D.  V.  B.  S.  became  the 
most  popular  place  in  town  during  the  entire  term.  The 
best  advertising  possible  was  done  by  the  children  them¬ 
selves,  who  were  heard  to  say :  “Come  on — we  have  movies 
there  and  everything !’ 

The  school  building  is  also  available  for  moving  pictures 
and  stereopticon  lectures.  Here,  too,  are  held  the  “Y 
Mixers,”  for  the  school  has  by  far  the  finest  auditorium 
in  Davis.  Gradually  the  church  began  to  belong  to  all  who 
affiliated  with  Protestant  Christianity,  cooperating  with  the 
Baptist  and  Congregational  organizations,  though  officially 
connected  with  the  Presbyterian  body,  in  order  adequately 
to  meet  the  needs  of  an  educational  center.  The  aim  was  to 
unite  all  Christian  forces  of  the  community  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  Christian  leadership  and  citizenship.  To  carry  on 
the  work  the  church  staff  was  increased.  A  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
man,  a  college  graduate,  became  a  co-worker  with  the  pastor 
with  headquarters  at  the  college.  He  has  lined  up  the  boys’ 
work  and  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  two  institutions. 
He  has  charge  of  “Y  Mixers,”  encourages  right  friendships, 
runs  an  employment  bureau  in  connection  with  the  co¬ 
operative  store.  On  Sundays  and  one  evening  each  week 
he  has  charge  of  discussion  groups.  He  receives  part  of  his 
salary  from  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  part  from  church  boards, 
and  is  the  pastor’s  right-hand  man. 


130 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


With  a  view  to  lining  up  the  entire  parish  for  service  and 
sociability,  a  trained  parish  worker  was  added  to  the  staff. 
Mrs.  Goodman  has  had  wide  experience  in  girls’  camp  and 
Y.  W.  C.  A.  activities  and  knows  her  work  from  A  to  Z. 
She  has  done  a  great  deal  during  the  past  year  in  making 
the  parish  coterminous  with  the  community  by  the  working 
out  of  a  new  parish  visiting  plan. 

In  order  to  make  “everybody  acquainted  with  everybody 
else,”  the  Ladies’  Aid  voted  to  cooperate  by  following  a 
program  of  interchanging  calls.  The  whole  community  was 
divided  into  block  divisions  with  a  captain  over  each  di¬ 
vision.  The  duty  of  the  captains  is  to  report  to  the  church 
office  the  coming  of  any  new  families,  any  change  of  address 
by  a  family,  any  case  of  sickness,  or  anything  else  that  may 
afford  the  church  an  opportunity  to  render  service.  They 
are  to  see  that  every  one  in  each  district  is  acquainted  with 
every  one  else,  and  especially  they  are  to  welcome  and  assist 
newcomers  in  ways  that  will  make  them  feel  at  home  in  the 
Davis  community  family. 

DEVELOPING  A  UNIFIED  PROGRAM 

While  the  organization  work  was  proceeding  success¬ 
fully,  a  unified  program  was  being  projected.  The  Ladies’ 
Aid  was  reorganized  and  membership  grew  to  one  hundred 
and  twelve — the  leading  woman’s  organization  of  Davis. 
The  men’s  Bible  class,  with  a  new  lease  of  life,  became 
known  as  the  Citizens’  Class  and  practically  supplanted  the 
work  of  the  Community  Service  organization.  With  a 
membership  of  fifty,  this  group  of  Davis  citizens  began  to 
meet  regularly  for  social  and  community  activities  as  well 
as  on  Sundays  for  Bible  study.  The  chairman  of  the  County 
Board  of  Supervisors  is  an  active  member,  as  are  nearly  all 
the  leading  business  and  professional  men  of  Davis.  County 
officers  and  specialists  along  various  lines  address  the  men 
from  time  to  time.  The  subjects  presented  are  very  varied. 
Public  health,  civic  welfare,  community  needs,  economic  wel¬ 
fare,  public  morals,  law  enforcement,  charity  and  correction, 
education,  recreation,  religious  cooperation  and  public  wor- 


THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CENTER 


131 


ship  are  all  discussed.  New  plans  are  under  way.  There 
are  hopes  that  soon  the  two  farm  bureaus  may  be  united 
in  one  good  strong  organization  at  Davis.  The  committee 
on  schools  has  been  suggesting  school  consolidation.  It  is 
the  first  effort  along  this  line  and  although  the  suggestion 
was  defeated  this  year  still,  as  the  men  say,  “The  ball  has 
been  set  rolling.  Speakers  from  Berkeley  have  laid  the 
question  before  the  people  and  when  the  time  comes  it  will 
surely  go  through/’  The  Citizens’  Class  is  also  interested 
in  a  project  for  a  high  school  for  Davis.  The  cemetery 
committee  has  succeeded  in  getting  a  list  of  signatures  suffi¬ 
ciently  large  to  satisfy  the  County  Board  of  Supervisors 
that  Davis  should  include  in  its  taxes  a  fund  to  keep  the 
cemetery  in  repair. 

Another  activity  of  the  class  has  been  the  education  of 
voters.  At  election  time  four  men  were  stationed  in  dif¬ 
ferent  parts  of  the  town  to  give  voters  information  and 
otherwise  aid  them.  It  was  announced  in  church  just  where 
each  of  the  workers  would  be  on  that  day.  Through  this 
plan  Davis  cast  a  90  per  cent,  vote,  a  higher  proportion  than 
at  any  previous  election. 

Other  projects  are  under  way,  including  the  organization 
of  a  debating  club  among  the  college  boys  who  are  to  come 
frequently  to  service  and  discuss  moral  problems. 

Plans  for  the  future  look  toward  the  organization  of  a 
junior  church  and  an  orchestra.  The  church  plans  to  hold 
public  health  meetings  at  which  county  hospital  men  will 
speak.  The  whole  aim  is  to  tie  up  all  the  agencies  of  Davis 
in  one  way  or  another  to  the  community  church.  Denomi- 
nationalism  has  been  forgotten.  One  of  the  elders  is  a 
Congregationalist.  The  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
is  a  Baptist.  A  Disciple  teaches  the  intermediate  boys’  class 
in  Sunday  school.  Another  trustee  is  a  Methodist — yet  all 
are  right-hand  men  as  well  as  are  others  of  the  Presby¬ 
terian  denomination. 

Every  Sunday  morning  and  evening  preaching  services 
are  held  at  the  community  church  with  an  average  attend¬ 
ance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  seventy-five,  respectively, 
except  when  pictures  are  shown,  when  the  evening  attend- 


132 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


ance  averages  two  hundred.  The  midweek  service  is  held 
regularly.  Mr.  Fiske  feels  that  the  title  “prayer  meeting”  is 
obsolete  and  has  therefore  changed  the  name  to  “church 
night  service.,,  Services  are  straightforward  and  Mr.  Fiske 
uses  no  pulpit  and  no  notes.  He  just  talks  to  his  people  and 
what  he  says  goes  straight  home  to  every  person  in  the 
congregation.  “Prayer  meetings  are  all  right,”  said  the 
pastor,  “but  nowadays  the  few  faithful  people  who  would  be 
interested  in  a  prayer  meeting  are  not  the  ones  that  need 
one.  A  midweek  service  must  make  an  appeal  to  the  people 
who  need  to  pray,  who  need  to  be  helped  to  learn  the  value 
of  week-day  religion.” 

Thirty-five  per  cent,  of  those  who  attend  services,  evening 
as  well  as  morning,  are  non-members;  60  per  cent,  are 
men,  25  per  cent,  women,  10  per  cent,  young  people  and  5 
per  cent,  children.  But  nearly  all  who  attend  are  members 
of  some  church  and  are  gladly  affiliating  with  the  Davis 
church  while  living  in  the  community.  Occasional  services 
are  held  by  an  Episcopal  rector  for  those  who  wish  services 
of  this  denomination.  The  Episcopal  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
came  once  during  last  year  for  such  a  service. 

SPECIAL  ACTIVITIES 

Every  year  many  special  days  are  celebrated.  Soon  after 
college  opens  a  faculty  day  is  observed.  Following  the 
special  service,  luncheon  is  served  in  the  social  room.  Each 
person  brings  a  basket  lunch,  the  church  furnishes  coffee 
and  dishes.  At  this  service  last  year  fifty-eight  faculty 
people  and  thirty-eight  of  their  children  were  present. 
Every  professor  is  invited,  so  is  every  faculty  family.  After 
luncheon  there  is  a  social  conference  at  which  is  discussed 
the  question — “How  can  we,  as  a  faculty  family  into  whose 
hands  California  has  given  its  boys,  develop  moral  fiber?” 
This  conference  brings  about  a  consciousness  of  fellowship 
between  the  church  and  college  faculty  wherein  they  share 
each  other’s  responsibilities. 

Another  meeting  held  each  year  is  that  of  Farmers’  Day, 
coming  soon  after  the  harvest  is  gathered,  when  farmers 


THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  CENTER 


133 


from  miles  around  come  in  for  a  real  community  meeting. 
At  Christmas  time  a  community  Christmas  service  is  held 
at  the  school  to  which  every  one  in  Davis  is  invited  and  in 
which  every  one  is  interested.  Once  a  year  a  great  congre¬ 
gational  dinner  is  served  to  all  church  members.  The  mem¬ 
bers’  reception,  held  annually,  serves  as  a  sort  of  Decision 
Day.  Just  now  the  pastor  is  holding  a  series  of  services 
especially  for  students  and  considering  various  subjects, 
such  as,  “Is  the  Bible  True?”  Mr.  Fiske  is  an  idealist,  but 
an  idealist  with  both  feet  on  the  ground  and  his  eyes  ever 
watching  the  future  in  order  that  his  church  shall  in  no  way 
fall  short  of  fulfilling  every  need  of  the  community.  Men 
who  have  been  off  hunting  with  Mr.  Fiske  say:  “This 
preacher  is  a  Track  shot.’  ”  His  gospel  is  not  only  “reading 
the  Bible,  but  behaving  it.”  He  believes  in  the  church  as 
an  organization  of  “not  hearers  only  but  doers.”  He  says, 
“Wherever  there  has  been  failure  in  the  rural  ministry  it 
has  inevitably  been  caused  by  discouragement.  The  rural 
pastor  has  never  before  had  the  means  whereby  he  could 
accomplish  what  he  desired.  If  he  ever  had  any  dreams  of 
success,  scarcely  ever  has  he  had  the  wherewithal  to  make 
them  come  true.” 

At  the  State  Fair  at  Sacramento  every  one  in  the  rabbit 
exhibit  building  was  asking :  “Who  is  Fiske  of  Davis?  Who 
is  Fiske  of  Davis?”  It  seems  that  this  pastor  entered  nine 
rabbits  at  the  fair  and  took  nine  prizes,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  he  spent  no  time  in  preparing  for  them.  On 
the  day  the  fair  opened  the  pastor  remembered  that  he  had 
promised  to  exhibit  his  rabbits.  So  he  grabbed  them  out  of 
the  hutches,  packed  them  into  his  car  and,  without  even 
combing  out  the  old  fur,  landed  them  in  the  exhibit.  The 
woman  of  whom  he  bought  the  rabbits  some  time  ago  won 
only  nine  points  on  her  exhibit  and  the  pastor  won  fifteen. 
The  crowd  wondering  about  Fiske  of  Davis  did  not  know 
that  he  was  the  moderator  of  the  Presbytery  of  Sacramento, 
the  vice-president  of  the  Davis  Parent-Teacher  Associa¬ 
tion,  a  member  and  director  of  the  Business  Men’s  Associa¬ 
tion,  chaplain  of  a  Masonic  Lodge,  member  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  National  Community  Service  Association, 


134 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


chairman  of  the  Administration  Division  of  the  Sacramento 
Presbytery,  member  of  the  Advisory  Board  of  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.,  an  assistant  scout  master,  member  of  the  Board  of  Direc¬ 
tors  of  the  High  School  Bus  Association,  a  member  of  the 
State  Synodical  Committee  on  Education,  vice-president  of 
the  North  California  Rabbit  Breeders’  Association,  member 
of  the  Synodical  Field  Council,  pastor  and  student  pastor  of 
Davis  and  pastoral  counselor  of  the  Yosolano  Christian  En¬ 
deavor.  This  last-named  position  he  feels  is  most  important ; 
for  as  a  result  of  this  contact  with  the  Christian  Endeavor 
organizations  of  the  two  counties  he  has  been  able  to  bind 
together  all  the  communities.  He  attends  all  executive  meet¬ 
ings  and  helps  with  their  programs. 

Just  now  a  project  is  under  way  to  add  to  the  church, 
already  so  serviceable,  a  $25,000  wing  for  community  activi¬ 
ties;  and  also  to  build  a  temporary  $6,000  building  at  the 
college  for  Y.  M.  C.  A.  headquarters. 

During  the  last  year  thirty-three  people  became  members 
of  the  church,  twenty-three  by  letter  and  ten  by  confession 
of  faith.  The  total  present  membership,  including  twenty- 
four  non-residents,  is  one  hundred  and  seventy-four.  The 
average  attendance  of  the  Sunday  school  is  larger  than  the 
entire  church  enrollment,  the  total  membership  being  two 
hundred  and  thirty-six,  of  whom  fifty  are  from  farm  homes. 

There  have  been  many  changes  in  the  once  sleepy  little 
town  since  Mr.  Fiske  came.  Everywhere  is  evidence  of  a 
big  future  for  the  community  because  the  people  have  fully 
awakened  to  the  situation,  have  caught  the  vision  of  the 
progressive  church  and  are  ready  to  pull  together  for  greater 
social,  economic,  educational  and  religious  development.  As 
Mr.  Fiske  has  said:  “It’s  all  one  job,  this  work  of  the  King¬ 
dom,  and  the  sooner  we  stop  splitting  it  up  into  many  jobs 
the  sooner  will  we  begin  to  accomplish  something.” 


Chapter  XI 

SELF-AMERICANIZATION 
STANTON,  IOWA 

A  liturgical  church  which  still  uses  a  foreign  language  for 
some  services  hut  which  with  real  vision  is  holding  to¬ 
gether  and  helping  to  blend  the  old  and  the  new. 

The  Mamrelund  Lutheran  Church  of  Stanton,  Iowa,  pre¬ 
sents  an  example  of  a  transplanted  foreign  community 
gradually  absorbed  into  its  American  environment  while 
retaining  the  rare  qualities  of  its  European  heritage.  The 
little  colony  in  Stanton  was  100  per  cent.  Swedish  when  it 
came  at  the  call  of  its  forerunner,  the  Swedish-American 
pastor,  Rev.  B.  M.  Halland.  This  pastor,  then  serving  the 
Swedish- Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  of  North  America  in 
the  parish  of  Burlington,  Iowa,  heard  of  an  impending  land 
settlement  along  the  Burlington  railroad  in  Montgomery  and 
Page  counties.  The  railroad  was  being  built  from  Creston 
to  Omaha,  and  Pastor  Halland  secured  a  two-year  option 
on  land  on  both  sides  of  the  tracks  in  the  two  counties,  he 
to  have  full  charge  of  the  placing  of  settlers. 

As  was  natural,  the  pastor  immediately  thought  of  his  own 
flocks,  people  of  his  own  race  and  faith.  At  Andover,  Gales¬ 
burg  and  other  points  in  Illinois,  were  recent  settlements  of 
Swedish-Lutherans.  In  the  homeland  overseas  were  more 
men  and  women  of  a  type  the  pastor  wanted  for  so  arduous 
and  uncertain  an  adventure.  Though  the  first  excursions  for 
these  Swedish  settlers  ran  into  Page  and  Montgomery  coun¬ 
ties  in  1869,  Pastor  Halland  was  discriminating  in  his  selec¬ 
tion  of  those  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  his  colony,  and 
it  was  not  until  1870-71  that  his  painstaking  efforts  brought 

notable  results,  and  a  great  influx  of  settlers  followed.  Hav- 

135 


136 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


ing  set  the  tone  he  had  small  cause  to  fear  the  coming  of 
undesirable  elements.  The  pastor,  with  the  vision  of  the 
Stanton  that  was  to  be  in  his  mind,  met  and  ministered 
to  the  incoming  flocks  in  primitive  fashion — in  English 
in  the  tents  of  the  railroad  crews,  and  in  Swedish  at  the 
sod  huts  of  his  Swedish  settlers.  Before  any  idea  of  im¬ 
proved  shelters  and  physical  comforts,  came  the  idea  of  a 
church  like  the  church  in  the  homeland  overseas.  The  con¬ 
gregation  was  incorporated  by  Pastor  Halland,  June  25, 
1870. 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW 

Never  was  a  more  indigenous  spiritual  organization.  It 
was  in  form  and  character  Swedish;  but  it  received  a  new 
birth  on  American  soil,  so  that  to-day  the  church  at  Stanton, 
with  its  traditional  European  social  and  religious  back¬ 
ground,  is  as  richly  American  as  any  native  institution. 

The  charter  members  of  this  American  rural  church  com¬ 
prised  forty-three  communicants  and  thirty-one  children. 
That  was  half  a  century  ago.  The  story  of  the  West  has 
been  one  of  unrest,  of  constant  migrations,  as  the  trails 
have  opened  on  more  alluring  vistas  or  rumors  have  flown 
of  gold  and  silver  bonanzas;  yet  this  little  community  re¬ 
mained  steadfast  to  its  new  church  and  home — “the  big 
white  church  in  the  little  white  town.” 

The  settlers  were  turning  the  sod  and  making  the  best 
of  living  in  sod  houses.  There  was  neither  time  nor  call 
for  more  elaborate  habitations.  A  greater  need  of  the  com¬ 
munity  was  its  spiritual  satisfaction.  And  so  the  Mamre- 
lund  church  was  the  first  elaborate  building  erected.  It  was 
built  by  joint  effort  and  dedicated  to  public  use. 

In  1878  a  religious  revival  swept  the  community,  and  a 
theological  point  of  difference  led  to  the  secession  of  those 
who  believed  that  an  individual  and  personal  religious  ex¬ 
perience  should  prove  the  method  of  admission  to  the  church. 
It  was  more  or  less  an  inherited  controversy  from  the  home¬ 
land,  constituting  a  disavowal  of  the  traditional  teaching  of 
the  State  Church  of  Sweden.  On  April  3,  1879,  the  dis- 


SELF-AMERICANIZATION 


137 


senters  founded  the  Swedish  Evangelical,  or  Lutheran  Mis¬ 
sion  Church.  With  a  church  building  capable  of  accom¬ 
modating  four  hundred  and  fifty,  its  diminished  congrega¬ 
tion  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  now  represents  only 
the  village.  No  farmers  from  the  surrounding  country  be¬ 
long  to  it,  as  the  increased  social  and  religious  facilities  of¬ 
fered  by  the  original  and  larger  church  prove  more  attrac¬ 
tive.  No  vestige  of  the  original  controversy  survives  be¬ 
tween  the  two  churches  to-day,  the  little  church  working  in 
harmony  with  the  Mamrelund  church  in  serving  Stanton 
village. 

The  first  structure  of  the  Mamrelund  church  was  true 
to  its  pioneer  environment,  and  reflected  the  character  of 
its  congregation.  It  was  built  thirty-two  feet  wide  and  forty- 
two  feet  long,  with  a  temporary  pulpit  and  altar  table,  while 
the  pews  consisted  of  planks  supported  on  wooden  blocks. 
But  for  all  these  rough,  improvised  devices  it  was  no  less  a 
house  of  worship,  a  religious  home  that  was  not  unlike  the 
rude  homes  of  its  builders.  Its  simplicity  and  rigorous 
practicability  reflected  the  character  and  ambitions  of  its 
builders,  for  it  is  said  that  the  amount  of  money  subscribed 
for  its  erection  was  equal  to  the  financial  rating  of  the 
entire  congregation. 

This  early  devotion  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers  was  care¬ 
fully  fostered  and  observed  by  the  entire  community.  At¬ 
tendance  at  services  was  exemplary  in  its  regularity.  The 
services  were  naturally  conducted  in  Swedish.  The  mem¬ 
bership  increased  by  an  average  of  fifty  new  members  a  year 
as  the  settlement  grew.  During  the  pastorate  of  the 
founder’s  successor,  Pastor  A.  J.  Ostlin,  of  Cheriton,  Iowa, 
from  1883  to  1893,  a  new  building  was  planned,  sixty  feet 
wide  and  one  hundred  feet  long ;  and  the  community  under¬ 
took  to  erect  this  more  ambitious  edifice.  No  architect  was 
engaged,  no  contracts  were  made.  Moreover,  at  this  early 
period,  before  the  community  was  ready  to  function  in  the 
American  tradition  which  it  has  since  acquired,  and  while 
it  was  still  in  transition  from  its  social  Swedish  background, 
none  was  allowed  to  drive  a  nail  into  the  new  structure 
who  was  not  of  Swedish  extraction. 


138 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Since  the  church  is  built  on  a  hill,  its  spire  is  visible  for 
miles  around  to  its  members  in  town  and  country.  Once 
more  the  unselfish  spirit  that  made  possible  the  construction 
of  the  pioneer  church  was  shown  in  the  readiness  with 
which  many  members  subscribed  or  pledged  sums  equal  in 
value  to  their  property.  In  1920  it  was  found  necessary  to 
meet  increased  demands  for  space.  Through  the  work  of 
volunteers  the  basement  was  enlarged  and  separate  suites  of 
rooms  were  constructed  for  the  women  and  the  men  and 
their  respective  organizations,  which  amply  complement  the 
auditorium  space  and  the  storeroom.  These  added  facili¬ 
ties  cost  more  than  $6,000,  but  the  Luther  League  has  un¬ 
dertaken  the  payment,  and  when  the  survey  was  made  had 
raised  all  but  $1,000  of  the  amount. 

“halland  settlement” 

In  the  same  year  that  Pastor  Halland  built  the  first 
Mamrelund  Lutheran  church  at  Stanton  he  also  organized 
congregations  of  Bethesda,  ten  miles  south,  and  at  Nyman, 
eleven  miles  southwest  of  Stanton.  His  call  brought  Swed¬ 
ish  settlers  who  took  up  land  over  a  large  section  of  the 
southern  part  of  Montgomery  and  the  northern  part  of 
Page  counties.  There  are  now,  within  a  radius  of  twenty- 
five  miles,  six  thriving  Lutheran  congregations  which  owe 
their  inception  to  the  vision  of  Pastor  Halland — Stanton, 
Bethesda,  Fremont,  Red  Oak,  Tabor  and  Essex.  With 
Stanton  as  the  mother  settlement  church,  these  congrega¬ 
tions  have  justly  been  designated  the  “Halland  Settlement.” 
The  tradition  of  the  founder  of  this  settlement  has  proved 
an  inspiration  to  the  five  successors  in  his  pastorate,  each 
one  of  whom  has  made  his  mark  not  only  in  Stanton  itself . 
but  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

STANTON  COMMUNITY 

Stanton  is  not  at  the  mercy  of  those  shifting  economic  and 
social  tides  that  have  swept  certain  sections  of  the  country, 
and  which  have  drawn  the  youth  and  ambition  of  countless 


SELF-AMERICANIZATION 


139 


communities  into  the  vortex  of  urban  competition,  or  have 
swamped  rural  communities  by  the  growth  of  industrial 
towns  in  their  neighborhoods.  Stanton  is  self-sufficient  and 
self-contained  in  all  its  economic  and  social  aspects;  it  is 
far-reaching  in  its  religious  influence. 

The  rolling  country,  heavy  in  loam,  determines  the  agri¬ 
cultural  character  of  the  community.  Crops  of  corn,  wheat, 
oats  and  hay  supply  the  main  business  of  stock-raising,  which 
is  estimated  as  follows:  Swine,  75  per  cent.;  cattle,  20  per 
cent. ;  horses,  sheep  and  poultry,  5  per  cent.  Of  the  total 
number  of  farms,  four  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  only  sev¬ 
enty  are  operated  by  tenants.  From  the  original  value  of 
six  dollars  to  eleven  dollars  an  acre  in  Pastor  Halland’s 
time,  land  has  now  reached  the  price  of  $215  an  acre.  The 
only  industry,  that  of  flour,  is  linked  to  the  economic  life 
of  the  community.  From  the  tiny  hamlet  of  sod  huts  that 
sheltered  Pastor  Halland’s  little  flock  of  hardy,  God-fear¬ 
ing  settlers,  Stanton  has  grown  about  its  church  until  to-day 
there  are  3,558  people,  of  whom  750  live  in  Stanton  village, 
and  2,808  in  the  surrounding  country.  Of  the  total  of  638 
homes  152  are  in  the  village  and  486  in  the  open  country. 

THE  FARMER  BUSINESSMAN 

In  Stanton  there  is  a  Commercial  Club  that  fosters  a 
healthy  spirit  of  cooperation  between  the  village  and  the 
surrounding  country.  The  Mercantile  Company  was  or¬ 
ganized  in  May,  1919,  to  conduct  a  general  retail  business 
in  hardware,  farming  implements  and  produce.  It  has  a 
capital  of  $47,000,  and  no  stockholder  may  control  more 
than  $1,000  worth  of  stock.  It  now  has  a  membership  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-four.  Last  year  $82,000  worth  of 
business  was  done  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Stanton. 
Interest  is  paid  in  dividends  on  stock,  and  the  balance  is 
divided  on  a  pro  rata  basis  among  purchasing  members. 
Of  a  similar  character  are  two  other  enterprises  in  Stanton. 
The  Grain  Elevator  Co.  was  organized  in  1919  to  enable 
the  farmers  of  Stanton  to  secure  a  better  market.  The  stock 
is  not  limited  to  cooperating  farmers,  but  there  are  at 


140 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


present  one  hundred  and  fifteen  members,  none  of  whom 
may  own  more  than  $1,000  worth  of  stock.  The  amount  of 
business  done  during  1921  amounted  to  $221,000. 

The  Live  Stock  Shipping  Co.  began  activities  on  Jan¬ 
uary  1,  1922.  Like  the  two  preceding  enterprises  it  is 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  Stanton  and  its  vicinity.  This 
organization,  however,  is  strictly  cooperative.  The  manager 
is  guaranteed  $100  per  month  with  a  small  commission  on 
all  business  done.  The  annual  membership  dues  are  $2.50. 
Every  member  has  a  vote  and  profits  are  declared  on  a  pro 
rata  basis.  The  organization  is  financed  entirely  from  its 
profits.  During  the  first  seven  months  $180,000  worth  of 
business  was  done.  This  included  the  shipment  of  seven 
thousand  hogs  and  seven  hundred  head  of  cattle.  It  will 
be  seen  that  this  cooperative  enterprise  concerns  itself  with 
the  main  interest  of  the  community — stock-raising.  The 
farmers  of  the  community  are,  moreover,  the  bona  fide  busi¬ 
ness  men,  and  thus  the  social  and  economic  cleavage  and 
consequent  jealousy,  the  charges  of  exploitation  wherever 
middlemen  appear,  do  not  exist  here.  Town  and  country 
are  practically  one  in  their  economic,  social  and  religious 
interests. 

The  social  activities  naturally  center  upon  the  church,  with 
its  one  thousand  and  twenty  members.  There  are  secular 
organizations  like  the  American  Legion  with  seventy-six 
members,  the  Legion  Auxiliary,  and  four  lodges.  There  are 
also  four  clubs,  including  a  Tennis  and  an  Athletic  Associa¬ 
tion,  which  keep  alive  an  interest  in  out  of  doors  and  healthy 
sportsmanship.  During  the  war  a  local  chapter  of  the  Red 
Cross  was  active.  For  public  gatherings  a  hall  is  used  as 
a  lyceum  and  theater,  where  concerts  are  given  by  the 
high  school  orchestra  and  band  or  by  the  Community  Glee 
Club  and  Chorus.  One  of  the  public  events  is  the  com¬ 
munity  picnic.  The  only  unhealthy,  illegal  influence  that 
persists  in  the  town  is  bootlegging,  which  keeps  well  under 
cover.  The  real  initiative  for  leadership  lies  with  the  church 
members.  It  is  casually  remarked  in  Stanton  that  no  one 
can  become  a  leader  until  he  joins  the  church.  About  three- 
quarters  of  those  identified  with  all  community  enterprises, 


SELF-AMERICANIZATION 


141 


as  weli  as  all  the  leaders  in  village  and  community  life,  are 
members  of  the  Mamrelund  Lutheran  Church. 

CHURCH  FINANCE 

The  land  owned  by  the  Mamrelund  Lutheran  Church  is 
valued  at  $12,000.  The  building  is  worth  $40,000,  the  big 
thirteen-room  parsonage  $7,000,  and  an  adjunct  building, 
which  provides  a  residence  for  worthy  members  of  the 
church  when  the  need  arises,  is  valued  at  $4,000.  The  old 
cemetery,  now  closed,  is  endowed,  so  that  its  future  main¬ 
tenance  in  appropriate  fashion  is  ensured.  The  church  is 
free  from  debt.  This  prosperous  condition  is  maintained 
by  the  annual  quota  system  of  assessment,  ranging  from 
fifty  dollars  per  man  and  wife  or  family  to  five  dollars.  The 
quota  is  assessed  by  a  finance  committee  according  to  the 
financial  rating  of  the  members.  In  this  annual  quota 
are  included  all  items,  such  as  benevolences  and  foreign  mis¬ 
sions.  This  budget  system  is  unique.  No  quota  is  placed 
higher  than  fifty  dollars,  even  though  many  members  are 
financially  able  and  would  be  willing  to  give  more.  The 
various  organizations  raise  special  funds  by  selling  refresh¬ 
ments  which  are  donated  by  special  committees.  The  Ladies’ 
Aid  Society,  the  Women’s  Home  and  Foreign  Missions 
Society,  the  Boys’  and  Girls’  Missionary  societies,  all  use 
successfully  this  method  of  raising  funds. 

“MEMBERS — ONE  OF  ANOTHER” 

Besides  the  usual  transference  of  membership  by  letter, 
there  is,  owing  to  the  liturgical  character  of  the  Lutheran 
church,  only  one  method  of  recruiting  membership.  This 
is  through  confirmation.  Thus  the  confirmation  class  In 
the  Mamrelund  Church  is  a  carefully  organized  system  of 
induction  to  membership.  There  are  two  classes,  one  for 
adults  and  one  for  young  people  fourteen  to  fifteen  years 
of  age.  From  January  to  September  the  class  is  under  the 
special  instruction  of  a  competent  Sunday  school  teacher. 
This  course  is  supplemented  by  one  directly  conducted  by 


142 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


the  pastor  on  Saturday  afternoons  for  eight  months.  The 
subjects  of  instruction,  which  is  in  both  Swedish  and  Eng¬ 
lish,  are  the  Bible,  Church  Catechism,  Bible  history  and 
topics  of  public  interest  which  are  covered  by  lectures.  The 
course  ends  in  confirmation  coincident  with  graduation  from 
the  regular  Sunday  school  course,  which  is  likewise  bilingual. 
The  adult  class  ranges  in  ages  from  seventeen  years  up¬ 
ward,  and  attends  a  series  of  Sunday  afternoon  lectures  in 
the  tenets  and  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  No  mem¬ 
ory  work  is  required  of  the  adults.  In  1921  there  were 
twenty-five  attending  this  class.  After  the  course  is  ended, 
those  taking  it  are  invited  to  become  members  of  the  church 
through  confirmation,  and  invariably  all  receiving  instruc¬ 
tion  become  confirmed. 

SERVICES  IN  TWO  LANGUAGES 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  strong  nationalistic  feeling 
maintained  in  the  early  days  of  the  Halland  Settlement, 
when  none  but  those  of  Swedish  extraction  was  allowed  to 
drive  a  nail  into  the  new  church  building.  To-day,  of  the 
two  services,  one,  in  the  morning,  is  conducted  in  Swedish, 
the  other,  in  the  evening,  in  English  while  the  pages  of  the 
parish  paper  carry  notices  printed  in  the  two  languages  side 
by  side.  Though  Swedish  is  still  used  in  church  services 
for  the  benefit  of  the  older  generation  neither  the  com¬ 
munity  nor  its  church  is  less  Amercian  than  are  many  New 
England  or  southern  or  Pennsylvania  communities  with 
British  or  Dutch  heritage.  Already  the  younger  generation 
greatly  outnumbers  the  older,  and  it  is  merely  a  matter  of 
time  when  English  will  entirely  supplant  Swedish.  At  the 
communion  service  both  languages  are  used  in  the  ritual  of 
ministration,  and  occasionally  a  short  English  sermon  is 
preached. 

The  church  services  follow  the  full  liturgical  Lutheran 
version,  with  a  robed  choir.  The  attendance  is  large  and 
general.  On  Sunday  mornings  and  evenings  the  little  white 
houses  of  Stanton  are  empty;  their  occupants  are  all  in  the 
big  church.  Preceding  the  evening  service  on  every  second 


SELF-AMERICANIZATION 


143 


Sunday,  the  organist  gives  a  fifteen-minute  organ  recital  of 
classical  pieces,  and  at  the  evening  services  special  numbers 
are  often  rendered  by  the  choir  of  fifty  voices. 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

The  Sunday  school  enrollment  is  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
two,  and  the  average  attendance  three  hundred — a  remark¬ 
ably  high  average  when  one  remembers  that  of  the  five  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty-two  members,  four  hundred  and  twenty  are 
living  on  farms  in  a  community  where  the  roads  might  be 
better.  The  Sunday  school  also  is  bilingual.  When  the 
main  classes  meet  in  the  sanctuary  for  services  in  English, 
the  elders  take  their  places  in  the  rear  under  the  gallery  and 
follow  the  opening  exercises,  after  which  they  have  their 
own  session  in  Swedish.  In  the  gallery  of  the  church  the 
Adult  English  Bible  Class,  with  a  membership  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty,  is  conducted  by  the  pastor.  It  includes 
members  from  the  confirmation  age  of  fifteen  to  one  lady 
of  seventy-five.  This  old  lady,  when  asked  why  she  did 
not  attend  the  Swedish  class  like  others  of  her  age  and 
generation,  replied :  “I  have  always  studied  the  Bible  and 
know  it  in  Swedish.  Now  I  want  to  know  it  in  English.’’ 

OTHER  ACTIVITIES 

Once  a  year  during  the  summer,  when  the  weather  is 
inviting,  is  held  an  Old  Folks’  Day.  All  those  over  seventy 
are  the  guests  of  the  church  on  this  occasion,  each  receiv¬ 
ing  a  special  invitation,  printed  in  Swedish,  and  a  special 
badge.  A  speaker  from  outside  the  community  addresses  the 
gathering  in  Swedish,  and  the  Girls’  Missionary  Society  pro¬ 
vides  a  suitable  banquet.  An  offering  is  taken  up  for  the 
support  of  the  Old  Folks’  Home  of  the  Conference. 

The  annual  Harvest  Festival,  held  in  September,  is  a 
picturesque  survival  of  a  beautiful  European  custom,  and 
one  that  fittingly  belongs  in  a  rural  church  like  that  of 
Stanton.  The  morning  service  is  in  Swedish,  with  special 
speakers.  It  is  followed  by  a  community  dinner  attended 


144 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


by  nearly  six  hundred  people  who  pay  twenty-five  cents  for 
the  meal,  which  is  furnished  by  the  Ladies’  Aid  Society. 
In  the  afternoon  a  big  missionary  program  is  given  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Ladies’  Missionary  Society,  and  an 
annual  collection  of  about  $300  is  taken  for  the  cause  of 
missions  in  China  and  India. 

Another  interesting  event  is  the  Father  and  Son  Banquet, 
attended  by  three  hundred  and  two  men  and  four  hundred 
boys  in  1921.  It  was  held  in  the  rooms  of  the  Luther 
League.  The  high  school  orchestra  played  and  before  the 
banquet  there  was  community  singing.  This  was  not  alto¬ 
gether  a  church  gathering,  since  the  members  of  both  the 
churches  as  well  as  of  the  Commercial  Club  were  on  the 
committee  that  arranged  the  event. 

The  “home”  atmosphere  is  persistently  cultivated  in  all 
the  contacts  between  the  church  and  the  community,  and 
every  New  Year’s  evening  the  Luther  League  holds  a  cor¬ 
dial  home-coming  party  for  relatives  and  friends  of  the 
parish  who  are  visiting  the  home  town. 

For  the  young  people  there  are  various  junior  societies. 
The  girls  of  the  Junior  Missionary  Society  sew  and  pre¬ 
pare  articles  for  annual  sale,  the  proceeds  of  which  go  to 
foreign  missions.  There  are  two  meetings  a  month,  and 
members  are  divided  into  groups  under  competent  instruc¬ 
tion  according  to  their  ability  to  sew.  The  mothers  serve 
refreshments  at  these  meetings.  The  Boys’  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  Band  meets  simultaneously  with  the  girls  in  the 
Bible  Class  Room.  The  boys  have  declamation  contests 
twice  a  year  when  prizes  are  awarded.  They  are  trained 
for  these  contests  and  work  with  as  great  enthusiasm  as  if 
they  were  college  or  interstate  affairs. 

Perhaps  the  largest  and  most  important  organization  in  the 
Mamrelund  Church  is  the  Luther  League.  It  began  as  the 
Young  People’s  Society  more  than  thirty  years  ago.  In 
1902  it  was  united  with  the  other  young  people’s  organiza¬ 
tions,  which  had  increased  as  the  church  had  grown,  and  its 
activities,  social  and  religious,  were  multiplied.  The  Church 
owes  its  fine  pipe  organ  to  the  Luther  League.  The  records 
for  the  ’nineties  show  that  the  League  organized  fourteen 


THE  BIG  WHITE 


CHURCH  IN  THE  LITTLE  WHITE  TOWN 


SELF-AMERICANIZATION 


145 


coffee  meetings,  six  concerts,  two  oyster  suppers,  two 
auction  sales,  and  a  necktie  sale,  and  the  organ  was  in¬ 
stalled  in  1897  from  the  proceeds  of  these  various  efforts. 
In  1913  the  League  raised  funds  and  placed  a  memorial 
window  in  the  gable  of  the  tower  in  honor  of  the  founder. 
Pastor  Halland.  In  1914  it  paid  for  the  rebuilding  of  the 
gallery,  the  moving  of  the  organ,  the  carpeting  of  the 
church;  and,  as  has  already  been  seen,  the  League,  in  the 
early  days,  assumed  responsibility  for  the  enlarging  of  the 
church  basement  to  furnish  rooms  for  the  various  societies. 
The  meetings  of  the  League  are  quite  as  much  community 
affairs  as  they  are  affairs  of  the  church.  The  membership 
is  so  large  and  important  that  no  other  organization  can 
hold  a  meeting  on  the  night  of  a  League  meeting  and  expect 
any  sort  of  attendance.  If  the  American  Legion  or  any 
other  organization  plans  a  meeting,  the  pastor  is  first  con¬ 
sulted  to  see  if  the  Luther  League  has  a  meeting  that  may 
conflict.  Few  young  people’s  societies  can  show  such  a 
record. 


A  CHURCH  WITHOUT  WALLS 

The  Mamrelund  Lutheran  Church  of  Stanton  has  passed 
through  painful  periods  of  readjustment.  First  the  com¬ 
munity  in  its  new  American  home  built  a  church  on  Swed¬ 
ish  standards  and  ideals.  There  was  family  unity  linked 
indissolubly  with  church  unity.  Next  came  an  identification 
of  the  church  lrfe  with  the  American  community  life.  The 
little  town  was  soon  an  aggregation  of  church-going  fami¬ 
lies.  When  the  second  generation  appeared,  the  identity  be¬ 
tween  church  and  community  was  so  complete  that  to-day 
the  young  folks  are  the  life  of  the  church  and  are  stable 
in  their  relations  to  the  community.  In  recent  years,  three- 
quarters  of  the  other  Iowa  counties  and  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  Iowa  villages  have  lost  in  population.  Few 
leave  Stanton.  The  church  ties  and  the  home  ties  are 
strong  there.  When  the  younger  generation  preferred  and 
demanded  services  in  English,  it  was  a  natural  transition 
which  none  the  less  preserved  and  carried  over  all  that  was 


146 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


best  in  the  life  of  their  pioneer  forefathers.  Pastors  of  the 
Halland  mold  came  and  went.  They  watched  their  church 
and  community  with  the  same  jealous  care.  They  were 
aware  that  a  time  would  come  when  the  Swedish  back¬ 
ground  would  mean  less  to  the  rising  generation  with  its 
American  birth  and  education.  But  the  church  and  com¬ 
munity  ideals  were  so  identical  that  the  church  to-day  func¬ 
tions  through  a  rich  program  as  an  integral  and  natural 
part  of  its  community.  When  no  social  event  is  sure  of 
success  and  a  good  attendance  unless  the  church  and  its 
activities  have  that  date  open,  then  we  have  found  a  place 
where  church  and  community  are  one. 


Chapter  XII 

THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 
DAYTON,  INDIANA 

A  church  in  a  small  village  that  cooperates  with  its  neighbor 
church  and  utilizes  to  good  effect  the  natural  con¬ 
servatism  of  the  community. 

When  a  church  announces  that  it  has  a  purpose,  it  in¬ 
vites  the  comment  that  every  church  should  have  one.  Yet, 
whether  the  statement  of  purpose  is  an  affirmation  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community,  or  a  definition  to  guide  its  ambi¬ 
tious  congregation,  its  challenge  reminds  us  of  the  Church 
Militant  in  a  world  of  confused  values. 

Its  validity  is  tested  by  the  community,  the  county  and 
the  state  in  which  it  functions. 

The  Memorial  Presbyterian  Church  of  Dayton,  Indiana, 
took  the  bold  step  of  emblazoning  its  purposefulness  on  a 
seal  and  announcing  itself  to  the  world  as  “A  Church  with 
a  Purpose/’  With  the  individual,  a  motto  or  seal  is  more 
often  a  symbol  of  family  pride  than  of  ethical  or  moral 
importance.  But  a  church,  as  a  public  institution,  has  to 
live  on  its  present  and  future  usefulness,  not  upon  past 
achievements.  Once  a  standard  or  ideal  is  proclaimed,  the 
world  expects  a  steady,  undeviating  maintenance  of  that 
standard.  Dayton’s  ambitious  church  placed  upon  its  own 
community  the  responsibility  of  living  up  to  its  standard. 

The  Memorial  Church  of  Dayton  did  not  lightly  assume 
the  responsibility.  The  community  had  steadily  grown 
prosperous,  self-centered,  with  a  material  satisfaction  that 
was  greater  than  its  spiritual  satisfaction.  In  its  history, 
the  church  had  also  known  its  periods  of  complacent  self- 

satisfaction,  and  its  periods  of  active  service.  Like  many 

147 


148 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


a  rural  church  to-day  it  had  adequately  served  its  com¬ 
munity  through  early  crises  and  had  been  forgotten  as  a 
moral  force  when  these  crises  no  longer  presented  them¬ 
selves  in  the  new,  prosperous  and  assured  life  of  the  com¬ 
munity. 

But  there  came  a  day  when  the  Memorial  Presbyterian 
Church  was  no  longer  content  merely  to  satisfy  Dayton’s 
narrow  social  and  religious  needs.  It  announced  its  pur¬ 
pose  : 


To  know  our  Father  and  glorify  Him. 

To  know  Christ  and  obey  Him. 

To  know  the  Scriptures  and  practice  them. 

To  know  our  community  and  serve  it. 

To  know  our  neighbor  and  love  him  as  ourself. 

To  shun  sin  and  find  a  Savior. 

To  lose  self  and  find  eternal  life. 

Like  countless  villages  in  the  United  States,  Dayton  offers 
as  much  scope  for  service  as  may  engage  the  activities  of 
an  average  church.  Moreover,  there  are  not,  in  Dayton,  the 
material  or  financial  handicaps  over  which  so  many  rural 
churches  must  triumph.  At  the  time  the  church  announced 
its  purpose,  Dayton,  as  a  prosperous  community,  was  fully 
able  to  live  up  to  the  most  ambitious  program  its  church 
could  devise.  But  it  was  not  ready  to  recognize  the  church 
as  the  center  of  its  life.  It  was  too  satisfied  with  things 
as  they  are.  It  had  attained  to  its  material  prosperity  by 
hard  labor  and  a  progressive  spirit ;  but  it  had  failed  to  apply 
the  same  energy  and  vision  to  its  church. 

THE  COMMUNITY 

Just  one  hundred  years  ago,  the  land  upon  which  the 
village  of  Dayton  now  stands,  near  the  eastern  border  of 
Tippecanoe  County,  Indiana,  was  covered  with  water.  It 
was  a  bleak,  uninviting  prospect  that  greeted  Peter  Weaver, 
the  first  white  settler,  when,  in  the  fall  of  1822,  he  chose 
a  site  on  the  southern  end  of  the  Wea  Plains.  A  steady 
influx  of  settlers  iiffo  the  region  helped  to  drain  the  land 


THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 


149 


and  found  the  rich  agricultural  community  which  is  to-day 
the  pride  of  Sheffield  Township.  The  first  corn  was  planted 
by  James  Paige,  in  1823,  and  the  first  religious  service  was 
held  in  his  cabin  the  same  year.  Two  years  later  a  sub¬ 
scription  school  was  started  in  the  log  cabin  of  another 
pioneer,  Mrs.  Richard  Baker.  The  first  brick  house  was 
built  in  1827,  and  the  first  gristmill  in  1828 — two  economic 
signs  of  a  stable  and  growing  settlement.  In  1869  the  Lake 
Erie  and  Western  Railroad  passed  through  Dayton,  and  its 
pioneer  period  was  over. 

In  1835,  a  year  after  its  organization,  the  First  Pres¬ 
byterian  Church  was  built ;  and  around  the  church  grew  the 
present  community.  The  level,  fertile  lands  have  laid  the 
foundations  for  Dayton’s  present  prosperity.  Its  early 
settlers  were  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  while  those  who  fol¬ 
lowed  were  largely  of  Teutonic  stock  that  brought  from 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  sturdy  farming  traditions.  But 
Dayton  has  always  had  a  population  uniformly  American. 
The  village  is  reckoned  as  a  progressive  farming  community 
by  the  county  agent.  The  recent  lack  of  labor  and  the 
fluctuations  in  markets  have  convinced  the  Dayton  farmer 
of  the  wisdom  of  practicing  a  more  diversified  farming. 
Wheat  was  once  the  chief  crop.  Oats  and  hay,  live  stock, 
poultry  and  dairy  products  are  now  more  generally  raised. 
Corn  forms  49  per  cent,  of  the  entire  crop  raised,  while 
swine  form  54  per  cent,  of  the  live  stock. 

Dayton  has  a  village  population  of  three  hundred  and 
eighty-five,  while  nine  hundred  and  fifty-two  live  in  the 
surrounding  country.  It  remains  a  pretty  village  of  pros¬ 
perous  farmers,  with  comfortable  homes,  two  churches,  good 
schools,  a  bank,  stores,  garages,  a  grain  elevator,  a  lumber¬ 
yard  and  a  coal-yard.  The  steam  railroad  and  the  inter- 
urban  electric  line  give  easy  access  to  Lafayette,  a  university 
town,  and  the  state  capital,  Indianapolis. 

The  elements  of  organization  and  cooperation  are  still 
in  embryo.  No  economic  necessity,  outside  the  temporary 
crisis  of  the  war,  has  made  cooperation  necessary.  Even 
the  two  neighboring  hamlets  are  self-contained.  A  store 
holds  together  the  small  group  of  thirty-five  families  at 


150 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Moniter,  and  serves  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  people 
around  it;  while  a  tie  of  kinship  and  economic  satisfaction 
binds  together  the  group  of  twenty-five  families  at  Pettit, 
whose  store  serves  one  hundred  and  four  people  in  its  vi¬ 
cinity.  Cooperation  has  not  yet  become  an  economic  neces¬ 
sity.  There  is  no  competition  to  threaten  Dayton  farmers. 

COOPERATION  BY  SOCIAL  NECESSITY 

None  the  less  the  village  is  cooperative  enough  when  its 
public  health  or  its  community  pleasures  and  advantages  are 
concerned;  and  it  is  interesting  to  find  public  cooperation 
centered  in  the  schools.  Dayton’s  first  lesson  in  social  and 
religious  cooperation  began  in  its  consolidated  school,  and 
with  the  young  people  who  helped  the  Memorial  Church 
to  adopt  its  emblem  of  service.  The  schools  are  the  source 
of  the  potential  social  and  religious  energy  which  Dayton 
Memorial  Church  enlisted.  They  furnish  a  meeting  place 
for  church  and  community.  A  consolidated  school  was  or¬ 
ganized  for  Sheffield  Township.  Comfortable  automobile 
trucks,  running  on  schedule  time,  brought  children  from  a 
wide  area  at  the  public  expense.  The  consolidated  school 
also  houses  the  school  library,  supported  by  Sheffield  Town¬ 
ship  and  open  to  the  public. 

To  the  high  school,  a  large  auditorium,  with  a  stage,  was 
added  for  concerts  and  plays.  A  motion-picture  machine, 
owned  by  the  community,  provides  public  entertainment  at 
low  cost.  Lectures  on  agricultural  and  literary  topics  are 
given  by  professors  from  Purdue  University.  One  of  the 
professors  conducts  special  vocational  courses  in  the  high 
school,  for  which  credits  are  given  in  the  regular  curriculum. 
A  well-equipped  kitchen  for  domestic  science  courses  makes 
it  possible  to  serve  the  public  at  community  gatherings. 
There  is  also  a  large  gymnasium  which  is  at  the  service  of 
the  public  outside  school  hours.  The  last  communal  im¬ 
provement  includes  plans  for  a  community  house.  Dayton 
community  has  learned  to  utilize  its  two  school  plants  on  a 
cooperative  basis:  it  became  rejuvenated  through  its  school 
community  centers.  But  the  church  was  kept  from  becom- 


THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 


151 


ing  a  factor  in  the  community  life  until  it  announced  its 
purpose  and  proceeded  to  function  to  the  starved,  un¬ 
organized  social  and  religious  needs  of  the  younger  and 
rising  generation. 


THE  CHURCH 

In  the  early  days,  church  and  community  life  were  iden¬ 
tical,  and  the  steadfast  piety  of  the  early  Indiana  settlers 
amply  survives  in  the  state  to-day.  Nor  is  Dayton,  with  all 
its  material  prosperity,  without  its  share  of  this  early  re¬ 
ligious  tradition.  But  it  is  rewarding  to  trace  the  intimate 
way  in  which  the  church  entered  into  the  early  community 
life,  the  sort  of  religious  leaders  that  gave  it  direction  and 
inspiration. 

The  first  religious  service  in  Tippecanoe  County  was 
naturally  held  in  the  log  cabin  of  James  Paige,  its  first 
settler,  in  1823,  the  year  of  his  coming.  The  first  minister 
in  the  county  was  a  Methodist.  It  was  not  until  May  30, 
1834,  that  a  public  meeting  was  called  in  Dayton  village  by 
members  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Lafayette, 
the  nearest  town,  who  were  resident  in  the  village  of  Day- 
ton.  Accordingly  the  Dayton  Presbyterian  Church  was 
founded  with  a  charter  membership  of  forty-nine  Day- 
tonians. 

The  first  minister  was  the  Rev.  James  E.  Carnahan,  who 
served  until  1875.  He  was  an  inspirer  and  founder  of 
many  of  Tippecanoe  County’s  institutions.  In  1832  he 
helped  to  found  Wabash  College.  In  1834  he  assisted  in 
starting  the  church  in  Dayton  to  which  he  gave  so  richly  of 
his  service.  In  1837,  he  founded  the  first  temperance  society 
in  Dayton,  known  as  the  “Washington  Society.” 

The  building  of  1834  was  succeeded  by  a  better  one  in 
1852 ;  and  the  foundation  for  the  present  structure  wras  laid 
in  1899.  This  brick  building,  the  church  that  made  a  place 
for  itself  in  community  life,  was  dedicated  in  1900,  and 
marks  the  new  era  of  Dayton.  In  the  tradition  of  service 
bequeathed  by  the  Rev.  James  Carnahan,  whose  memorial 
the  church  has  become,  there  is  a  line  of  worthy  pastors. 


152 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


When,  in  1915,  the  Rev.  Haughton  K.  Fox,  Ph.D.,  was 
considering  three  calls  from  large  urban  churches,  includ¬ 
ing  one  to  Indianapolis,  he  made  a  visit  to  Dayton.  After 
the  service  he  was  asked  to  take  charge  of  the  Memorial 
Church.  While  considering  this  last  call  he  was  urged  to 
accept  by  two  young  Dayton  men,  graduates  of  Purdue 
University  at  Lafayette.  Like  so  many  of  the  younger 
generation  in  both  rural  and  urban  communities  to-day,  the 
two  had  left  the  college  with  a  desire  to  find  or  to  create 
an  environment  with  all  the  social  and  religious  advantages 
of  the  best  and  most  modern  community.  On  returning  to 
Dayton,  they  saw  that  with  all  its  material  advantages,  its 
up-to-date,  expensive  equipment,  the  village  and  community 
lacked  the  essential  thing  that  is  called  vision.  They  knew 
of  Dr.  Fox’s  ideals  for  rural  churches  and  asked  him  to 
accept  the  Dayton  call  and  help  them  make  the  church  a 
factor  in  the  life  of  the  younger  generation. 

Dr.  Fox  is  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister.  After 
graduation  from  college  and  seminary,  he  gained  a  valuable 
experience  with  young  people  as  the  president  of  Gettings 
Seminary,  at  Le  Harp,  Illinois,  spent  two  years  as  a  teacher 
and  executive  of  that  seminary,  and  then  took  charge  of 
the  note  department  of  an  industrial  concern.  After  four 
years  of  business  experience  he  went  to  Covington,  Indiana, 
his  first  parish,  and  spent  nine  successful  years  there.  While 
secretary  of  the  Indiana  State  Federation  of  Churches  dur¬ 
ing  this  time,  he  became  convinced  that  the  rural  church 
was  neglected.  He  accepted  the  Dayton  call. 

i 

THE  ELDER  AND  BASKETBALL 

Dr.  Fox  knew  the  task  ahead  of  him.  At  the  first  meet¬ 
ing,  however,  the  problem  was  adequately  put  to  him  by 
an  elder :  ‘‘The  thing  that  we  have  got  to  fight  in  this  town 
is  this  game  of  basketball.”  This  remark  was  passionately 
made  at  the  parish  meeting  of  a  church  in  these  United 
States  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1915.  With  this  clew,  Dr. 
Fox  knew  what  he  was  up  against.  He  knew  better  than 
ever  why  the  young  Purdue  men  were  dissatisfied  and 


THE  BOY  SCOUTS  OF  THE  DAYTON  CHURCH,  UNDER  THE  LEADERSHIP  OF  THE 
PASTOR,  FORM  THE  FIRE-FIGHTING  FORCE  FOR  THE  COMMUNITY 


. 


4 

■ 


’ 


* 


THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 


153 


wanted  to  start  life  in  some  place  other  than  their  home 
village  of  Dayton.  He  saw  that  his  job  was  to  make  Dayton 
a  fit  place  for  its  younger  generation. 

How  many  rural  churches  throughout  the  country  are 
facing  the  problem  of  keeping  their  youth?  There  is  no 
particular  advantage  in  a  Cradle  Roll  unless  the  church  is 
able  to  strike  a  balance  in  its  favor  twenty  years  later.  The 
interval  between  the  Cradle  Roll  and  the  first  signs  of 
leadership  is  full  of  disasters.  Moreover,  how  many 
churches  and  pastors  are  sighing  for  extraordinary  equip¬ 
ment,  for  a  changed  environment,  for  funds,  or  what  cannot 
be  created  by  money — a  community  spirit? 

Dr.  Fox  took  Dayton  as  he  found  it,  at  its  own  self- 
satisfied  value.  Like  many  another  rural  or  urban  pastor 
he  faced  his  leaders  and  asked  at  the  first  session  for  a 
large  sum  of  money.  And  remembering  why  Youth  was 
spiritually  beleaguered  in  Dayton,  he  added,  “But  you’re 
not  ready  as  yet  to  give  it  to  me.” 

Hitherto  Youth  had  not  been  consulted  in  any  of  the 
church  activities.  In  the  community  life  it  took  a  pictur¬ 
esque  and  entertaining  role.  But  it  had  no  active,  creative, 
communal  part.  Dr.  Fox  took  Youth  into  his  counsel. 
None  was  too  young.  The  Boy  Scouts  found  in  him  an 
ideal  scout  master ;  one  who  really  led  them.  They  were 
treated  as  effective  members  of  the  community.  They  now 
have  their  own  clubhouse,  with  magazines  and  games,  under 
their  own  rules  and  governance.  The  farming  community, 
like  many  others  in  this  country,  is  handicapped  in  fire  ap¬ 
paratus.  After  a  preliminary  difficulty  in  getting  an  elder 
to  give  his  approval,  the  church  bell  became  the  village  fire 
alarm.  The  Boy  Scouts  were  organized  into  a  fire  depart¬ 
ment  and  have  rendered  yeoman  service  on  more  than  one 
occasion. 

publicity 

Dr.  Fox  has  a  practical  sense  of  publicity.  He  purchased 
a  printing  press,  prints  the  high  school  paper,  which  is  the 
only  community  news  sheet ;  a  church  bulletin  which  includes 
the  news  of  services  of  other  churches,  and  numerous  ad- 


154 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


vertisements  and  calendars  of  the  church’s  program.  The 
printing  press  is  owned  by  the  church,  but  is  located  in  the 
high  school  building;  and  Dr.  Fox  conducts  a  manual  train¬ 
ing  course  in  printing  for  which  credits  are  given.  Further, 
with  the  approval  of  the  School  Committee,  the  minister  con¬ 
ducts  a  course  in  the  Life  of  Christ  for  which  credits  are 
given  the  students  towards  their  graduation.  This  course, 
as  well  as  the  training  in  printing,  brings  the  minister  no 
remuneration. 

With  the  aid  of  his  printing  press,  Dr.  Fox  reaches  every 
corner  of  his  scattered  community.  The  high  school  paper 
carries  an  advertisement  of  the  church  activities,  but  the 
church  does  not  depend  on  its  press  for  advertisements. 
There  are  three  bulletin  boards.  One  stands  on  the  street 
in  front  of  the  church,  another  is  placed  in  front  of  a 
store,  across  the  street  from  the  interurban  station,  and  a 
third,  a  new  and  attractive  little  board,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  post-office  where  some  member  of  every  family  in  Day- 
ton  calls  at  least  once  a  day  for  mail.  The  church  has  a 
publicity  agent  to  assist  the  pastor  in  his  advertising.  An¬ 
other  institution  is  that  of  the  Guest  Book.  All  visitors  are 
asked  to  sign  the  book ;  and  the  printing  press  never  lets  them 
forget  the  existence  of  the  Memorial  Church  in  Dayton. 

“starving  is  poor  business” 

There  is  an  element  of  humor  in  any  one  telling  a  pros¬ 
perous  farming  community  that  to  starve  is  poor  business. 
But  Dr.  Fox’s  printing  press  made  clear  his  meaning.  He 
does  not  mince  his  words. 

“Some  people  go  to  church  like  they  go  to  a  play — when 
it’s  convenient  or  especially  fine. 

“They  eat  and  sleep,  send  children  to  school,  pay  taxes 
regularly.  But  religion  is  different — they  think.  Play  fair 
with  your  spiritual  life.  Don't  starve  the  soul;  that  is  poor 
business ” 

In  the  church  bulletin,  the  members  and  community  of 
Dayton  are  kept  abreast  of  their  responsibilities  and  of  their 


THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 


155 


cooperative  duty  to  the  community  as  well  as  to  their  neigh¬ 
bor  church.  In  one  issue  the  members  were  asked  to  con¬ 
gratulate  the  Methodist  Church  “in  that  they  have  met  their 
Centenary  quota  of  $6,000.  A  fine  piece  of  work.” 

This  attitude  of  the  Presbyterian  pastor  toward  his  neigh¬ 
bor  church,  with  which  he  shares  the  religious  and  social 
life  of  Dayton,  has  been  cordially  reciprocated.  It  is  illus¬ 
trated  by  his  statement  that  “the  success  of  our  church  is, 
or  would  be,  marred  by  the  failure  of  the  Methodist  church, 
so  long  as  it  is  here.  What  they  build,  we  do  not  also 
need.”  This  sort  of  cooperation  should  take  the  place  of 
the  rivalry  that  exists  between  denominations  in  many  a 
rural  community.  Since  his  church  has  commodious  facili¬ 
ties,  a  larger  plant  than  its  neighbor,  its  socials  are  attended 
by  Methodists,  and  are  open  to  the  village  and  community 
at  large.  As  will  be  noted,  the  beginning  of  a  comity  agree¬ 
ment  is  found  in  the  union  evangelistic  campaign  conducted 
jointly  by  these  two  churches.  As  a  practical  Christian’s 
view,  Dr.  Fox’s  statement  is  germane  to  churches  through¬ 
out  the  country,  and  especially  to  rural  churches.  The 
peculiar  facilities,  social  or  religious,  possessed  by  one 
should,  in  this  period  of  exorbitant  prices,  complement  those 
possessed  by  the  other.  A  duplication  of  facilities  and  in¬ 
terests  leads  to  a  competition  that  is  ruinous  in  more  than 
the  economic  sense :  it  places  a  spiritual  handicap  on  the 
entire  community. 


LEADERSHIP 

In  a  rural  church  or  community,  the  question  of  leader¬ 
ship  is  far  more  pressing  than  in  an  urban  parish.  The 
initiative  and  energy  natural  to  every  church  member  is 
given  little  scope.  The  burden  is  placed  upon  the  pastor. 
The  chief  reason  for  this  lack  of  leadership  in  rural  parishes 
is  a  matter  of  distance  and  weather.  An  urban  parish  shares 
the  advantages  of  rapid  transportation,  of  economic  and 
social  concentration  that  are  essentially  urban.  In  the 
country,  unless  there  is  an  elaborate  system  of  substitution, 
a  nucleus  of  material  upon  which  to  draw  in  emergencies. 


156 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


the  pastor  is  swamped  by  details  that  embarrass  his  paro¬ 
chial  efficiency. 

The  Dayton  Memorial  Church  has  a  miniature  training 
school  for  leadership.  Leaders  in  a  church  should  reflect 
the  Christian  purpose  and  example  fully  as  much  as  their 
spiritual  guide.  The  pastor  should  serve  in  the  role  of  a 
director  of  these  spiritual  potentialities  in  his  congregation. 
The  Dayton  Church  organized  its  youth.  But  none,  Boy 
Scout,  church  elder,  or  average  member,  was  too  young  or 
too  old  to  serve  in  his  or  her  capacity.  Dayton’s  Blue 
Square  emblem  “faithfully  sets  forth  the  working  ideal  of 
the  church,  for  we  believe  in  a  full-orbed,  symmetrical  type 
of  womanhood  and  manhood.  The  example  of  Jesus  sug¬ 
gests  this  fourfold  development;  thus  the  emblem  has  the 
authority  of  being  Biblical  and  practical.” 

Thus,  in  the  Dayton  Memorial  Church,  every  department 
has  one  leader  or  more,  and  there  is  a  reserve  body  of 
teachers  with  three  superintendents  in  the  Sunday  school. 
This  leadership  extends  into  community  affairs,  where  Dr. 
Fox  and  his  leaders  take  an  important  part  in  keeping 
Dayton  an  attractive  place  for  the  rising  generation  of  home¬ 
makers. 

In  1919  a  five-year  program  was  instituted  to  give  definite 
aim  and  concerted  action  to  the  work  of  the  church.  The 
parish  is  divided  into  six  groups;  and  over  each  group  is 
an  elder  and  a  deacon.  The  latter  has  the  financial  care, 
the  former  the  spiritual  care,  of  each  group.  The  spiritual, 
economic  and  social  needs  of  each  group  are  studied  and 
related  in  some  way  to  the  general  strategy  of  the  church, 
through  an  individual  record  system.  One  family  in  a 
group  has  ability  for  one  thing,  another  family  is  gifted  in 
some  other  degree.  The  cumulative  effect  of  each  group 
is  brought  into  cooperation  with  that  of  the  five  other  groups 
and  these  constitute  the  body  politic  and  ecclesiastical  of 
the  church.  Nor  may  the  benefits  of  this  organization  be 
especially  ascribed  to  the  Presbyterian  method  of  govern¬ 
ment.  No  denomination  has  a  copyright  on  the  methods  it 
uses  for  effectively  utilizing  every  natural  ability  possessed 
by  its  members. 


THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 


157 


EVANGELISM 

The  Dayton  church  has  not  smothered  its  spirituality 
under  the  details  of  social  organization.  It  has  a  guest 
book  for  visiting  strangers,  but  it  also  recruits  as  much  as 
it  can  from  the  Cradle  Roll  through  the  various  agencies 
like  the  Sunday  school  and  clubs.  A  week,  or  ten-day 
evangelistic  meeting  is  conducted  by  a  visiting  pastor.  The 
significant  union  meeting  in  which  the  Methodist  church 
joined  is  a  feature  that  needs  duplication  in  rural  churches. 
The  two  churches  organized  the  meeting,  invited  an  able 
evangelist  and  individually  reaped  a  spiritual  harvest  in  in¬ 
spiration  and  membership.  But  the  steady  increase  that  is 
the  strength  and  life  of  any  church  comes  in  Dayton  through 
personal  effort,  the  pastor’s  class  and  the  teachers’  work  in 
the  Bible  school. 


FROM  INDIANA  TO  CHINA 

On  the  church  calendar  appear  the  names  of  two  pastors. 
It  is  an  unusual  custom,  but  one  that  reflects  the  corporate 
activity  of  the  church.  These  are  the  Home  Pastor  and 
Foreign  Pastor.  Dayton  Memorial  Church  analyzed  the 
economics  of  foreign  mission  work  and  decided  that  the 
missionary  was  underpaid.  Accordingly  the  salary  of  its 
missionary  in  Shantung,  China,  was  raised  to  $1,250  and  he 
was  given  a  regular  status  on  the  church  bulletin  as  Day¬ 
ton’s  Foreign  Pastor.  Dayton  church,  for  the  past  three 
years,  has  maintained  a  School  of  Missions  with  a  course 
of  six  weeks  duration,  lasting  until  Christmas.  There  are 
five  grades,  with  an  enrollment  of  seventy  students.  In 
this  course  the  problems  of  the  foreign  field  are  studied 
and  discussed,  so  that  Dayton’s  reasons  for  supporting  a 
pastor  in  China  are  not  sentimental  or  perfunctory.  The 
church  knows  the  reasons  for  his  existence  and  the  problems 
he  faces  and  extends  its  cooperation  and  influence  from  the 
Indiana  parish  to  the  parish  in  China.  Three  women’s  mis¬ 
sionary  organizations,  in  which  the  men  have  honorary 
membership,  raise  funds  for  emergencies.  The  Westminster 


158 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Guild  of  young  women  in  the  parish,  the  Light  Bearers,  an 
organization  for  girls,  and  the  Bible  school  of  the  church 
all  provide  a  steady  recruitment  of  members,  and  maintain 
the  interest  in  Dayton’s  Chinese  parish. 

THE  BIBLE  SCHOOL 

The  church,  of  course,  has  its  Bible  school  with  a  ven¬ 
erable  record,  since  it  was  organized  at  the  same  time  as 
the  church;  and  the  only  session  it  has  ever  missed  was 
because  of  community  quarantine.  The  school  uses  graded 
lessons  up  to  and  including  a  senior  class.  Promotion  Day 
is  observed  with  Rally  Day.  An  annual  picnic  is  held  at 
an  early  date  after  the  Children’s  Day  program.  The  annual 
meeting,  when  the  election  of  officers  is  held,  coincides  with 
that  of  the  church.  Every  department  in  the  Bible  school 
presents  a  written  report  which  goes  into  the  church  records. 
A  careful  discrimination  is  shown  in  the  election  of  officers 
for  the  Bible  school.  A  nominating  committee  presents  two 
names  for  each  office,  except  for  that  of  superintendent,  for 
which  three  names  are  submitted.  These  come  to  the  ses¬ 
sion  of  the  church  previous  to  the  public  meeting;  and  this 
body  has  the  right  to  eliminate  any  name,  or  to  reject  all 
those  submitted  and  request  others.  In  this  way  the  best 
talent  for  leadership  is  discovered. 

The  story  of  Dayton,  Indiana,  is  like  that  of  many  an¬ 
other  rural  community.  Whatever  material  prosperity  Day- 
ton  possesses  over  others  of  the  same  size,  the  fundamental 
problem  of  church  and  community,  with  diverse  interests, 
remains  the  same.  An  elder  regards  basketball  as  some¬ 
thing  for  the  church  to  fight  and  the  church  ends  by  plan¬ 
ning  a  gymnasium  of  its  own.  When  it  has  this  its  equip¬ 
ment  will  be  complete.  The  change  in  point  of  view  is  based 
upon  a  change  of  spirit  in  the  church. 

FULL  BARNS  AND  EMPTY  CHURCHES 

When  the  Dayton  elder  found  no  greater  evil  to  fight  in 
the  community  than  “this  game  of  basketball,”  he  was  not 


THE  CHURCH  WITH  A  PURPOSE 


159 


overstating  the  sort  of  problem  his  church  should  tackle. 
Constituted  as  it  was,  out  of  touch  with  community  life, 
and  by  the  elder’s  ultimatum  ready  to  declare  war  on  the 
eternal  spirit  of  Youth,  the  church  could  find  no  worthier 
foe  than  basketball.  But  with  rejuvenation,  a  purpose  to 
support  a  flexible  program  and  manifold  activities  through 
which  it  can  enlist  Youth,  the  church  is  now  fighting  the 
good  fight  with  all  its  might.  Of  its  two  hundred  and  forty- 
nine  resident  members,  two  hundred  and  eight  are  enrolled 
either  in  the  Sunday  school  or  some  other  organization  of 
the  church,  and  many  belong  to  more  than  one  organization. 

Progress  in  scientific  farming  brought  material  pros¬ 
perity  and  full  barns;  progress  in  spiritual  farming  has  in¬ 
sured  a  harvest  to  a  church  of  a  type  common  enough  in 
rural  communities,  a  church  that  once  fitted  the  familiar 
figure  of  “an  empty  barn.” 

The  purpose  of  the  new  spirit  is  emblazoned  on  the  church 
seal.  That  seal  is  the  common  property  of  the  Dayton 
community.  Boy  Scout  and  elder  know  its  significance,  own 
it  as  a  personal  emblem.  Aligned  with  Youth,  ready  to 
serve  the  community,  with  a  parish  in  Dayton  and  another 
in  Shantung,  Dayton’s  Memorial  Church  is  firmly  rooted 
in  its  purpose  to  glorify  God  and  serve  him  through  service 
to  its  neighbors  and  its  community. 


Chapter  XIII 

THE  VILLAGE  CHURCH 

HONEY  CREEK,  WISCONSIN 

A  story  that  proves  it  possible  for  a  church  with  a  peculiar 
custom  or  doctrine,  such  as  those  of  the  immersionists 
or  of  the  liturgical  type,  to  minister  to  an  entire  com¬ 
munity. 

Many  years  ago,  as  the  carefully  preserved  church  diary 
shows,  the  good  Baptist  folk  of  Honey  Creek,  Wisconsin, 
were  sorely  offended  by  the  conduct  of  a  certain  “Sister 
Miranda  Gates.’,  Not  only  was  it  credibly  reported  that 
Miss  Miranda  had  committed  the  heinous  sin  of  dancing, 
but  when  called  upon  to  explain  the  matter  to  her  fellow 
church  members,  she  had  brazenly  admitted  the  offense  and 
had  the  hardihood  to  add  that  she  “thought  there  was  no 
harm  in  it.”  The  account  of  the  affair  in  the  old  diary  ends 
impressively :  “The  hand  of  fellowship  was  withdrawn  from 
Sister  Gates.” 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  church  which  sternly  withdrew 
the  hand  of  fellowship  from  an  erring  sister  to  the  same 
Baptist  church  to-day  which  has  an  open  membership  and 
stretches  forth  the  hand  of  fellowship  freely  and  gladly  to 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  community.  This 
church,  with  its  immersionist  tradition,  which  began  by 
serving  only  those  of  its  own  faith — and  them,  as  the  un¬ 
repentant  Miranda  discovered,  none  too  gently — has  risen 
to  its  responsibility  as  the  only  church  in  the  community 
and  gradually  broadened  its  scope  until  it  offers  service  to 
all  irrespective  of  faith. 

A  little  hamlet,  with  but  four  hundred  population,  and 

half  of  that  living  in  the  country,  surrounded  on  all  sides 

160 


THE  VILLAGE  CHURCH 


161 


by  places  larger  than  itself,  Honey  Creek  has  yet  main¬ 
tained  its  own  individuality.  Partly  perhaps  owing  to  the 
natural  beauty  of  the  place,  local  pride  developed  early  and 
has  always  been  strong,  and  this  is  largely  responsible  for 
the  well-defined  community  spirit  that  has  long  existed, 
fostered  by  the  church  and  in  turn  reacting  upon  that  or¬ 
ganization  in  still  further  broadening  out  its  activities.  The 
village  has  a  neat,  well-cared-for  appearance.  There  are 
cement  walks,  electric  lights,  well-kept  lawns.  The  electric 
light  company,  organized  by  the  citizens  themselves  in  1913, 
maintains  seventeen  street  lights  on  a  moonlight  schedule, 
the  expense  being  defrayed  by  an  annual  basket  social  held 
in  the  community  hall.  The  latter  building,  with  the  church 
and  schoolhouse,  form  a  triangular  group  of  substantial  red 
brick  buildings,  and,  though  divided  by  the  road,  all  form 
part  of  a  single  plant.  A  civic  league  of  twenty-five  women, 
whose  purpose  is  to  beautify  the  village,  has  turned  its  at¬ 
tention  to  the  school  grounds.  Finding  that  the  soil  is  too 
poor  to  permit  the  growth  of  ornamental  shrubs,  they  have 
proposed  to  the  School  Board  that  it  bear  the  expense  of 
fertilizing  and  grading  the  school  grounds,  while  the  civic 
league  will  take  care  of  their  planting  and  upkeep.  Even¬ 
tually  it  is  planned  to  treat  the  grounds  of  the  church  and 
community  hall  in  the  same  way,  and  in  the  enterprise  the 
league  has  enlisted  the  cooperation  of  the  Agricultural  De¬ 
partment  of  the  State  University. 

THE  PIONEER  CHURCH 

The  present  church  building  was  erected  only  in  1920, 
to  take  the  place  of  a  building  put  up  in  1905,  which  was 
destroyed  by  fire ;  but  the  church  itself  goes  back  to  the  first 
half  of  the  last  century,  to  pioneer  days  when  the  first  public 
services  of  worship  for  the  small  white  settlement  were  held 
in  the  little  log  schoolhouse.  On  February  6,  1841,  as  the  old 
diary  records,  a  handful  of  people  met  under  an  oak  tree 
at  a  farmhouse  and  organized  the  Free  Baptist  Church,  but 
it  was  eight  years  before  the  congregation  was  able  to  put 
up  a  regular  building,  and  still  another  year  before  a  par- 


162 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


sonage  could  be  provided.  A  small  hall  was  added  to  the 
church  plant  early  in  its  history,  its  principal  purpose  being 
to  accommodate  the  quarterly  meetings  of  the  church,  and 
that  original  hall,  growing  shabbier  and  more  dilapidated 
every  year,  had  to  serve  the  ever-developing  community 
interests  of  the  church  until  its  contrast  with  the  fine  new 
church  building  of  1905  was  considered  too  marked  to  be 
tolerated.  An  unsuccessful  effort  was  made  to  organize  a 
stock  company  to  erect  a  hall  for  the  use  of  the  community, 
but  in  the  end  the  church  undertook  the  project,  raising  the 
money  quickly  and,  if  not  without  sacrifice,  at  any  rate 
without  noise  or  fuss. 

Thus  the  church  did  for  the  community  what,  in  this 
instance,  the  community  had  failed  to  do  for  itself,  and 
when  the  new  hall  was  completed,  in  1911,  its  community 
purpose  was  emphasized  by  calling  it  not  the  church  hall, 
but  “The  People’s  Hall.”  The  name  chosen  only  gave 
formal  expression  to  a  principle  that  had  been  growing 
more  and  more  dominant  in  the  life  of  the  church  for  some 
years — the  principle  that  it  was  the  function  of  the  one 
church  in  the  community  to  serve  all  of  the  community. 
Perhaps  the  first  definite  record  of  such  a  principle  is  found 
in  the  single  article  of  incorporation  of  the  Ladies’  Aid, 
in  July,  1899,  which  stipulated  that  any  lady  in  the  com¬ 
munity  was  eligible  to  membership.  The  ghost  of  Miranda 
Gates,  one  may  suspect,  permitted  itself  a  quiet  smile  when 
that  article  of  incorporation  was  adopted !  After  the  build¬ 
ing  of  “The  People’s  Hall,”  other  organizations  connected 
with  the  church  quickly  fell  into  step.  The  Sunday  school 
opened  its  doors  wide  to  all  who  cared  to  enter,  and  in  1915 
the  men’s  “Brotherhood”  extended  “the  hand  of  fellow¬ 
ship”  to  every  man  in  the  place  by  developing  itself  into  a 
strong  community  club.  The  final  step  in  the  long  path  the 
church  has  traveled  since  it  expelled  Sister  Miranda  Gates 
was  taken  in  December,  1922,  when  open  membership  was 
decided  upon. 


THE  VILLAGE  CHURCH 


163 


REBUILDING  TO  MEET  COMMUNITY  NEEDS 

•In  1920,  as  has  been  mentioned,  the  church  building, 
which  had  been  the  pride  of  its  congregation  when  it  was 
completed  fifteen  years  earlier,  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
With  it  went  also  “The  People’s  Hall,”  symbol  of  the  com¬ 
munity  spirit  of  this  Baptist  congregation.  The  building 
went,  but  the  symbol  survived.  The  first  motion  to  rebuild 
church  and  hall  was  made,  while  the  fire  was  still  burning, 
by  a  citizen  who  was  not  himself  a  member  of  the  church. 
When  the  time  came  for  clearing  the  ground  and  laying 
the  foundations,  other  citizens  donated  the  labor  of  them¬ 
selves  and  their  teams,  and  within  two  years  after  the  fire 
both  buildings  had  been  replaced  with  not  a  dollar  of  in¬ 
debtedness,  the  community  having  raised  $15,000  and 
$10,000  being  received  from  outside  sources. 

The  present  equipment  is  entirely  adequate  to  all  needs 
of  the  community.  The  new  church  building  has  on  the 
first  floor  a  comfortable  heated  vestibule  and  well-finished 
auditorium,  off  which  opens  a  Bible  class  room  with  re¬ 
movable  partitions.  In  the  basement  are  separate  Sunday 
school  rooms  and  a  furnace  room  with  modern  heating 
apparatus.  In  the  assembly  room  of  the  community  hall 
general  meetings  and  various  entertainments  are  held.  A 
curtained  stage  and  dressing  room  are  provided  for  plays. 
Here,  too,  is  given  a  regular  moving-picture  show  every 
Friday  night  the  year  round,  a  small  charge  for  admittance 
covering  the  cost,  while  the  same  room  is  also  equipped  as 
a  gymnasium.  In  the  basement  of  this  building  is  a  well- 
furnished  kitchen  with  a  large  dining-room  opening  off  it. 
The  total  value  of  the  church  property,  including  the  par¬ 
sonage  and  land,  is  about  $44,000. 

The  finances  of  the  church  are  handled  in  a  businesslike 
manner  by  the  finance  committee.  Early  in  January  the 
amounts  needed  for  the  coming  year  are  carefully  estimated, 
and  the  resulting  budget  is  presented  in  a  circular  letter  sent 
to  all  Protestant  families  in  the  community.  The  every- 
member  canvass  follows.  The  appeal  receives  a  consider¬ 
able  response  from  the  community  at  large,  as  is  shown  by 


164* 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


the  fact  that  half  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  pledges  re¬ 
ceived  in  1922-23  were  made  by  non-church  members,  and 
40  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  raised  came  from  them. 
In  the  past  year,  leaving  out  of  account  all  building  fund 
moneys,  43  per  cent,  of  the  total  expenditures,  which 
amounted  to  $3,731.63,  went  for  benevolences.  There  is  no 
church  debt. 

The  population  of  Honey  Creek  remains  practically  sta¬ 
tionary  year  in  and  year  out,  which  in  itself  would  preclude 
a  large  yearly  growth  in  membership.  In  1909  there  were 
ninety-two  members,  and  at  the  end  of  1922  there  were  one 
hundred  and  twelve,  twenty-two  of  whom  were  non-resident 
and  five  inactive.  It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose,  however, 
that  the  policy  of  open  membership,  recently  adopted,  will 
be  reflected  in  an  increase  in  membership.  Of  the  sixty-four 
families  represented,  twenty-one  live  less  than  one  mile  from 
the  church  and  twenty-three  live  more  than  five  miles  away. 
About  one-fifth  of  the  total  membership  is  composed  of 
young  people  under  twenty-one,  while  men  and  boys  make 
up  45  per  cent,  of  the  total. 

Probably  the  greatest  single  impetus  the  Honey  Creek 
church  ever  received  came  when,  as  already  described,  the 
Sunday  school  fell  in  line  with  the  general  program  of  com¬ 
munity  service  as  exemplified  in  the  naming  of  “The 
People’s  Hall.”  It  was  in  1914  that  a  Workers’  Council 
was  organized  in  the  Sunday  school  to  find  out  how  it  could 
be  improved.  The  chief  fault  discovered  by  this  body  was 
that  the  Sunday  school  was  ministering  not  to  the  com¬ 
munity  as  a  whole,  but  to  a  single  small  group,  the  church 
group,  within  the  community.  The  first  step  taken  by  the 
Workers’  Council  was  the  organization  of  a  Cradle  Roll 
and  a  Home  Department,  both  of  which  have  now  grown 
to  a  membership  of  thirty-five.  The  organization  of  an 
adult  Bible  class  was  the  second  and  most  important  step. 
A  meeting  to  discuss  the  matter  was  called  at  the  home  of  a 
family  which  had  held  aloof  from  both  church  and  Sunday 
school,  and  the  secretary  of  the  newly  formed  Bible  class 
was  also  appointed  from  a  family  which  had  been  outside 
the  church.  The  Sunday  following  the  organization  of  the 


A  VIEW  OF  HONEY  CREEK  VILLAGE 


AND  SOME  OF  THE  INHABITANTS — MEMBERS  OF  THE  LADIES  AID 


THE  VILLAGE  CHURCH 


165 


new  class  the  Sunday  school  room  was  filled  with  people,  a 
large  proportion  of  whom  had  been  in  the  past  attendants 
of  neither  church  nor  Sunday  school. 

A  COMMUNITY-MINDED  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

As  a  result  of  these  efforts,  the  year  after  the  Workers’ 
Council  started  their  investigation  the  Honey  Creek  Sun¬ 
day  school  came  up  to  the  denominational  standard  set 
for  Baptist  Sunday  schools.  Further  than  that,  the  spec¬ 
tacular  improvement  served  to  bring  upon  the  Honey  Creek 
church  a  modest  amount  of  public  attention.  People  began 
to  express  curiosity  about  this  little  Baptist  church  in  a 
small  village  that  was  doing  things  for  the  community  in  a 
community-minded  way,  and  the  church  members  held  their 
heads  higher  in  consequence  and  were  inspired  to  still  further 
efforts. 

The  Sunday  school  is  fortunate  in  having  as  a  superin¬ 
tendent  a  woman  who  comes  continuallv  into  contact  with 
new  methods  of  religious  education  through  giving  part  of 
her  time  to  Baptist  Sunday  school  work  throughout  the 
state.  The  standards  by  which  the  Honey  Creek  school  is 
guided  are  thus  summarized  by  the  superintendent: 

1.  Look  out  continually  for  new  ideas  and  adapt  them 
when  possible. 

2.  Always  have  a  goal  ahead.  The  satisfied  school  never 
improves. 

3.  Watch  for  weak  points  and  concentrate  on  improving 
them. 

4.  Foster  the  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  school. 

5.  Remember  that  the  constituency  of  the  Sunday  school 
is  the  entire  community. 

6.  Strive  always  for  cooperation  among  ourselves  and 
thoughtfulness  for  others. 

Various  methods  are  used  to  stimulate  interest  in  the  Sun¬ 
day  school.  The  opening  event  of  the  year  is  Rally  Day 
and  the  survey  made  by  the  Sunday  school  teachers  in  con¬ 
nection  with  it.  Changes  always  take  place  during  the  sum- 


166 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


mer,  and  this  survey  helps  to  reestablish  the  work  in  the 
fall.  Plans  are  laid  and  schedules  prepared  for  a  “visit 
every  family”  campaign  at  the  August  meeting  of  the 
Workers’  Council,  which  meets  once  a  month  throughout 
the  year.  The  forthcoming  survey  is  announced  at  church, 
and  on  the  appointed  day  ten  teams  of  two  persons  each 
visit  the  Protestant  homes  in  the  community.  Every  fam¬ 
ily  is  invited  to  church  and  especially  to  Sunday  school. 
Children’s  Week  was  held  for  the  first  time  in  1922.  The 
community  was  divided  into  districts  by  a  committee  and 
the  districts  divided  up  among  the  Sunday  school  teachers. 
Seventy-one  calls  were  made  by  the  teachers  in  their  re¬ 
spective  districts  during  the  first  three  days  of  the  week. 
On  Friday  evening  came  the  Parents’  Meeting,  starting  off 
with  a  “pot  luck  supper”  and  finishing  with  a  moving-pic¬ 
ture.  On  the  following  day  the  children’s  party  was  held 
to  which  all  the  children  in  the  community  were  invited. 

Regularity  of  attendance  at  Sunday  school  is  stimulated 
by  the  Cross  and  Crown  system  of  cards  and  by  prizes.  To 
every  child  who  attends  on  fifty  of  the  fifty-two  Sundays 
of  the  year,  a  Bible  is  given  the  first  year  and  in  succeeding 
years  some  other  book.  These  prizes  were  won  by  twenty 
children  in  January,  1922.  “Perfect  Attendance  Diplomas” 
are  awarded  for  perfect  attendance  at  this  or  some  other 
Sunday  school.  The  present  enrollment  of  the  school  is 
one  hundred  and  twenty,  of  whom  ninety-six  individuals 
live  on  farms.  The  average  attendance  is  ninety,  or  75  per 
cent,  of  the  total  enrollment.  Of  the  twelve  classes,  eight 
are  organized,  and  all  but  two  study  graded  lessons. 

WORK  IS  PROVIDED  FOR  ALL 

An  opportunity  for  social  life  and  usefulness  is  given  to 
many  in  the  nine  other  organizations  which  function  in 
connection  with  the  church.  Six  are  young  people’s  or¬ 
ganizations,  and  these  account  for  more  than  half  of  the 
total  of  two  hundred  members. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  with  fifteen  members,  a  branch  of  the 
County  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  meets  once  a  week  with  the  pastor, 


THE  VILLAGE  CHURCH 


167 


taking  up  the  regular  study  course,  and  afterwards  playing 
basketball  and  volley-ball.  The  boys  spend  two  weeks  of 
every  summer  at  the  State  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Camp,  and  during 
the  late  spring  and  summer  they  play  baseball  on  Saturdays 
in  a  league  formed  by  seven  Y.  M.  C.  A.  groups  from  com¬ 
munities  in  the  vicinity.  Girls  belong  to  a  Junior  Ladies’ 
Aid  (ten  members),  and  to  the  Girls’  Glee  Club  (twelve 
members)  which  meets  once  a  week  in  the  community  hall 
to  sing  and  to  play  basketball.  The  Christian  Endeavor, 
which  has  thirty-five  members,  holds  the  usual  Sunday  night 
meetings,  has  socials  and  helps  with  Italian  mission  work 
in  Kenosha  and  Racine.  The  twenty  members  of  the  en¬ 
thusiastic  dramatic  club,  organized  in  1921,  have  already 
given  two  pageants  and  are  working  on  another.  The  Young 
People’s  Choir  practices  every  week  and  leads  the  singing 
at  the  Sunday  evening  meetings. 

That  the  two  women’s  organizations,  the  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety,  with  twelve  members,  and  the  Ladies’  Aid,  with 
twenty-six,  are  doing  things  is  shown  by  their  combined 
expenditures  for  the  last  church  year,  which  amounted  to 
$1,376.38.  The  Ladies’  Aid  pays  for  parsonage  repairs, 
helped  pay  off  the  mortgage  on  the  church  building  that 
burned,  paid  for  having  the  church  basement  finished  and 
for  the  sidewalks  on  the  church  property,  and  bought  the 
stove,  dishes  and  silver  for  the  community  hall.  It  has 
raised  $6,500  for  the  church  in  the  twenty-four  years  since 
it  was  organized.  The  “big  fire”  which  destroyed  the  church 
and  hall  failed  to  daunt  these  indomitable  ladies,  who  at 
once  pledged  $3,000  towards  the  new  church  and  hall,  pay¬ 
ing  $1,000  on  their  pledge  in  1921.  They  conduct  an  annual 
bazaar,  serve  meals  on  appropriate  occasions,  make  rugs 
and  aprons  and  serve  a  dinner  every  two  weeks  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  their  regular  meeting  to  which  all  the  community 
is  invited.  This  dinner  has  become  a  community  get- 
together.  Since  the  war  they  have  also  managed  an  annual 
Lyceum  course  of  five  lectures  and  entertainments  during 
the  winter.  One  feels  sure  that  poor  Miranda  Gates  would 
have  enjoyed  and  benefited  by  the  fellowship  of  this  ad¬ 
mirably  energetic  organization! 


168 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


ALL  ACTIVITIES  CAREFULLY  PLANNED 

The  Honey  Creek  Brotherhood,  as  already  noted,  opened 
its  membership  to  all  men  in  the  community  in  1915.  The 
banquet  with  which  that  occasion  was  celebrated  has  since 
become  an  annual  affair,  attended  by  men  from  miles 
around.  The  membership  of  this  Brotherhood  is  now  fifty. 
The  members  work  consistently  for  the  church  and  played 
a  prominent  part  in  its  restoration  after  the  fire,  but  their 
activities  are  not  confined  to  religious  matters.  At  the 
regular  monthly  meetings,  which  start  with  a  luncheon,  ad¬ 
dresses  are  given  on  subjects  of  interest  to  farmers,  and 
every  year  the  Brotherhood  puts  on  a  Farmers’  Institute  of 
two  days  at  the  community  hall,  the  meals  being  prepared 
as  usual  by  the  Ladies’  Aid.  It  was  the  Brotherhood  that 
bought  the  moving-picture  machine  in  order  that  the  young 
people  need  not  go  to  neighboring  towns  for  their  movies. 
The  Brotherhood  and  the  Ladies’  Aid  together  have  a  Picnic 
Association  that  turns  the  neighborhood  loose  once  a  year 
for  an  old-fashioned  community  get-together  out  in  the 
woods.  Anywhere  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  people 
come  to  that  picnic.  There  are  a  band,  a  good  speaker,  a 
ball  game  and  a  big  dinner  which  is  the  share  of  the  Ladies’ 
Aid  in  the  day.  The  Brotherhood  manages  the  Memorial 
Day  program  and  finances  the  free  dinner  for  soldiers  and 
their  friends.  It  supports  the  Chautauqua,  and  manages 
the  Honey  Creek  “Combination  Sale.”  The  latter  was 
started  about  fifteen  years  ago  and  has  been  held  every  year 
since.  Live  stock,  foodstuffs,  and  left-overs  are  brought  to 
the  corner  by  the  village  store  from  the  surrounding  coun¬ 
tryside,  and  the  day  is  devoted  to  auctioning  them.  At  noon 
the  women  have  dinner  ready  in  the  hall. 

All  activities  of  the  church  for  the  year  are  outlined  by 
the  Local  Board  of  Promotion,  which  consists  of  the 
deacons,  trustees,  clerk,  the  two  treasurers  and  the  presi¬ 
dents  of  all  organizations.  Every  year  this  group  adopts  a 
standard  which  includes  every  phase  of  church  life.  This  is 
the  latest  standard  presented: 


THE  VILLAGE  CHURCH 


169 


I.  Church  Life 

(a)  Evangelism 

25  additions  by  baptism  each  year 
A  class  in  church  membership 

(b)  Personal  service 

125  average  attendance  Sunday  school 
125  average  attendance  A.M.  church 
100  average  attendance  P.M.  church 
Every  member  an  active  member  of  some 
auxiliary 

Enlist  every  woman  in  women's  organiza¬ 
tion 

Enlist  every  young  person  in  C.E. 

Enlist  every  man  in  Bible  class  or  Brother¬ 
hood 

II.  Giving 

(a)  Stewardship  campaign 

(b)  Every  member  contributing  to  current  expense 

and  benevolence 

(c)  Annual  every-member  canvass 

(d)  Ten  per  cent,  yearly  increase  in  giving 

III.  Prayer  Life 

(a)  Fifty  average  attendance  Prayer  Meeting 

(b)  Family  prayers  in  every  home 

(c)  Prayer  lists  and  prayer  groups 

(d)  Every  member  in  prayer  service  at  least  once  a 

month 

IV.  Education 

(a)  Work  for  at  least  one  decision  for  definite 

Christian  service  each  year 

(b)  A  Christian  periodical  in  every  Christian  home 

(c)  Table  for  distribution  of  literature  in  com¬ 

munity  house 

(d)  A  committee  to  agitate  the  temperance  cause 

(e)  A  committee  to  promote  missions 

(f)  Survey  each  year 

V.  Social 

A  committee  to  promote,  encourage  and  supervise 
social  life  in  the  community. 


170 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


“Keeping  people  reminded  that  the  church  is  here,”  is  the 
church  slogan.  Honey  Creek  has  no  newspaper  of  its  own, 
hut  church  notes  and  write-ups  appear  in  the  Honey  Creek 
local  news  in  the  papers  of  six  neighboring  towns.  Oc¬ 
casionally  the  pastor  sends  out  mimeographed  cards,  and 
these  have  been  the  means  of  bringing  several  families  into 
the  church.  This  form  of  publicity  has  proved  so  success¬ 
ful  that  the  church  hopes  some  time  to  be  able  to  send 
weekly  announcements  to  every  family  in  the  community. 

Honey  Creek  church  has  always  thought  well  of  the  men 
who  have  served  it  and  has  loyally  supported  them.  The 
pastors,  as  a  result,  have  been  able  to  accomplish  much  and 
have  had  a  large  share  in  making  the  church  what  it  is 
to-day.  But  in  the  last  analysis,  it  is  the  people  themselves 
who  have  brought  this  to  pass.  The  community  stands 
solidly  behind  the  church  because  years  ago  the  church  which 
had  once  withdrawn  the  hand  of  fellowship  from  poor 
Miranda  Gates  began  to  broaden  out  its  program  to  include 
the  whole  community,  and  in  the  process  became  so  broad¬ 
ened  itself  that  it  has  been  able  to  enlist  the  loyalties  of  a 
united  community  and  has  opened  its  doors  to  all  faiths. 


Chapter  XIV 

TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 

MIDDLE  OCTORARO,  PA. 

The  story  of  a  church  in  the  open  country  which  for  two 
centuries  has  successfully  adapted  itself  to  changing  cir¬ 
cumstances  and  is  to-day,  if  possible,  more  effective  than 
ever  before. 

There  is  no  one  formula  for  church  success.  There  is  not 
even  one  generally  accepted  idea  of  what  constitutes  success. 
The  church  is  so  sensitive  a  social  institution,  reflects  so 
faithfully  the  characteristics  and  the  problems  of  its  com¬ 
munity,  that  it  can  conform  to  no  hard  and  fast  rule.  In  its 
success — or  failure — it  is  a  law  unto  itself.  There  are  com¬ 
mon,  universal  elements,  however,  that  are  worth  searching 
for.  The  church  sets  itself  to  win  individuals  to  an  alle¬ 
giance  to  its  Master.  But  it  is  its  business,  also,  to  build  its 
gospel  into  the  life  of  its  community;  as  the  years  pass, 
progressively  to  transform  its  community  into  the  likeness 
of  His  Kingdom.  That  is  a  many-sided,  complicated  busi¬ 
ness,  as  many-sided  and  as  complicated  as  life  itself.  In  its 
accomplishment,  the  organization  is  unimportant,  save  as 
any  piece  of  machinery  is  important  in  relation  to  its  prod¬ 
uct;  the  purpose,  the  spirit,  the  transformation  wrought  are 
all-important. 

The  Middle  Octoraro  Presbyterian  Church  is  obviously 
successful.  To  see  that  is  easier  than  to  state  its  formula. 
It  had  Scotch-Irish  beginnings,  and  that  must  have  helped 
a  good  deal — What  was  the  Scotchman’s  prayer?  “God 
grant  I  may  be  right,  for  ye  ken  I  never  change!”  It  has 
a  long  and  worthy  history,  and  that  ought  to  mean  more 

than  it  sometimes  means.  It  serves  a  community  of  solid 

171 


172 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


and  enduring  prosperity  based  on  the  wealth  of  fertile 
soil,  and  that  is  a  good  foundation  on  which  to  build.  Per¬ 
haps  its  formula  for  success  could  be  stated  something  like 
this :  “A  sound  gospel,  earnestly  proclaimed ;  a  firm  hold  on 
noble  traditions,  never  to  be  despised  if  you  do  not  let  them 
overwhelm  you;  a  program  of  work  large  enough  to  chal¬ 
lenge  effort,  definite  enough  to  measure  progress,  broad 
enough  to  comprehend  the  essential  interests  of  the  com¬ 
munity  and  the  Kingdom ;  a  good  working  organization  with 
many  willing,  loyal  workers;  behind  the  whole  enterprise  a 
sincere,  persuasive,  consecrated  personality.”  That  is  to 
say,  it  has  a  motive,  a  history,  a  purpose,  a  plan,  a  leader 
and  a  will  to  succeed ;  and,  since  it  has,  faith  also  cannot  be 
denied  it. 


early  days 

Middle  Octoraro  is  situated  in  an  open-country  neighbor¬ 
hood  in  the  southern  part  of  that  richest  of  all  agricultural 
counties,  Lancaster,  on  the  main  road  between  Quarryville 
and  Christiana,  about  four  miles  from  the  one  and  five  miles 
from  the  other.  The  story  begins  something  more  than  two 
hundred  years  ago,  when  settlers  first  came  to  take  up  the 
rich  lands  of  this  part  of  Pennsylvania.  To  the  north,  be¬ 
yond  a  ridge  known  as  Mine  Ridge,  lie  the  rich  limestone 
lands  of  northern  Lancaster  County,  to  which  came  early 
Dutch  and  German  settlers.  To  the  east  and  south,  along 
the  Brandywine  River  and  Big  and  Little  Elk  Creeks, 
settled  the  Friends.  Between  them,  and  westward  toward 
and  beyond  the  Susquehanna  River,  settled  another  class  of 
immigrants,  of  whom  the  following  is  written  by  a  local 
chronicler : 

By  birth  they  were  mostly  Scotch  or  Scotch-Irish,  with  a 
sprinkling  of  other  nationalities.  In  religion  they  were 
Scotch  Covenanters,  Calvinists,  Huguenots,  Presbyterians, 
men  who  kept  the  Sabbath  with  the  utmost  rigidity,  men  who 
believed  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
an  educated  and  paid  ministry,  a  representative  form  of  gov¬ 
ernment,  and  in  education  as  the  handmaid  of  religion.  And 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


173 


because  of  the  similarity  of  their  beliefs,  they  became  ad¬ 
herents  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  afterwards  to  become 
known  as  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  Such  was  the  character  of  the  men  and  women 
who  first  established  a  church  organization  at  Middle 
Octoraro,  or  “Middle  Octorari,”  as  it  was  written  in  earlier 
times. 

For  some  time  the  people  who  settled  along  the  west 
branch  of  Octoraro  Creek  worshiped  with  those  of  like  faith 
at  the  Upper  Octoraro  Presbyterian  Church,  near  Parkes- 
burg,  Pennsylvania.  In  1727,  however,  the  Presbytery  of 
Newcastle,  to  which  they  then  belonged,  organized  them  as 
a  separate  church;  and  they  joined  that  fellowship  of  great 
Presbyterian  country  churches  which  has  continued  to  the 
present  as  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  significant  groups 
of  country  churches  to  be  found  anywhere  in  America. 

PASTORATES  AND  MEMBERSHIP 

During  the  period  from  1781  to  1914  the  church  had  but 
six  different  pastors.  Between  those  dates,  for  various  short 
periods  aggregating  all  told  about  five  years,  it  was  without 
a  settled  pastor.  The  six  pastorates,  therefore,  actually  cov¬ 
ered  a  term  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years,  an 
average  of  a  little  more  than  twenty-one  years.  The  length 
of  four  of  these  was  particularly  notable,  covering  forty, 
twenty-one,  twenty,  and  thirty-seven  years,  respectively,  an 
average  of  virtually  thirty  years.  The  present  minister,  the 
Rev.  George  Hopkins  Shea,  began  his  pastorate  with  the 
end  of  1914. 

Fairly  complete  records  of  membership  are  available  from 
1825.  At  that  time  the  total  membership  was  reported  as 
two  hundred  and  thirty-two.  So  far  as  the  official  records 
of  the  Presbytery  go,  the  highest  point  in  the  membership 
was  reached  in  1836,  when  the  total  was  five  hundred  and 
thirty-one.  The  lowest  point  was  in  1876-77,  when  it  was 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven.  The  average  membership  for 
the  ninety-seven  years  for  which  figures  are  available  has 
been  two  hundred  and  forty-three. 


174 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


During  twenty  of  these  ninety-seven  years,  the  church 
had  no  additions  to  its  membership  on*  confession  of  faith. 
Eleven  of  the  twenty  were  consecutive  years,  from  1870 
to  1880  inclusive.  The  two  strongest  open  country  neigh¬ 
bors  of  the  Middle  Octoraro  Church,  namely,  Chestnut  Level 
and  Little  Britain  Presbyterian  churches,  likewise  reported 
no  accessions  on  confession  of  faith  for  these  same  consecu¬ 
tive  eleven  years.  The  high  points,  evangelistically,  of  its 
history  have  been  1832  to  1834,  1866,  1886  and  1916,  when 
there  were  added  to  its  membership  on  confessions,  respec¬ 
tively,  two  hundred,  ninety-two,  forty-one  and  eighty-two. 
The  record  shows  only  one  year,  1832,  when  more  than  ten 
members  were  received  by  letter  from  other  churches.  This 
church  has  grown  by  its  own  evangelistic  efforts.  In  the 
whole  period  of  ninety-seven  years  it  received  a  total  of 
1,193  new  members  by  confession  and  244  by  letter,  or  an 
aggregate  total  of  1,437.  Its  average  annual  gain  by  con¬ 
fession  was  5  per  cent,  of  its  membership.  The  average 
annual  gain  by  both  confession  and  letter  was  6  per  cent. 
Such  an  average  maintained  over  a  term  of  a  century  attests 
the  enduring  strength  of  the  organization.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  present  pastorate  the  church  entered  on  a  new  period 
of  increased  activity  and  vigor.  In  seven  years  it  achieved 
an  increase  in  the  total  membership  of  209  per  cent.,  and  in 
the  Sunday  school  enrollment  of  204  per  cent.  The  in¬ 
crease  in  per  capita  gifts  for  benevolences  over  the  previous 
average  was  about  three  and  one-half  times,  and  the  increase 
in  per  capita  gifts  for  local  expenditures  was  about  50  per 
cent. 


ENVIRONMENT 

Middle  Octoraro  church  is  an  example  of  an  open-country 
church  without  the  advantage  of  a  natural  community.  In 
the  reach  of  its  interest  and  its  influence  it  is  by  no  means 
confined  and  could  not,  without  violation  of  all  its  tradi¬ 
tions,  be  confined  to  its  immediate  neighborhood  in  Bart 
Township.  It  has  always  been  much  more  than  a  neigh¬ 
borhood  institution.  But  its  location  requires  it  to  set  its 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


175 


influence  against  the  pull  of  two  village  trade-centers  and 
four  neighborhood  trading  points,  and,  to  a  lesser  degree,  of 
several  others  within  whose  areas  of  influence  its  parish  lies. 
There  is  an  assumption,  the  truth  of  which  is  in  many  sec¬ 
tions  amply  attested,  that  the  future  lies  with  the  church  at 
the  trade-center,  rather  than  with  its  open-country  neighbor 
which  has  the  initial  support  of  no  natural  social  grouping 
and  must  create  both  its  own  center  and  circumference.  But 
here  the  assumption  is  not  sustained. 

The  accompanying  maps  picture  a  situation  of  consider¬ 
able  significance.  The  parish  of  the  church  has  a  general 
radius  of  about  five  miles,  though  it  has  some  active  mem¬ 
bers  living  at  a  greater  distance.  Quarryville,  a  village  of 
eight  hundred  and  twenty-three  inhabitants,  and  Christiana, 
with  nine  hundred  and  eighty-five,  are  the  larger  centers 
which  divide  this  parish  area  between  them,  the  church  being 
about  on  the  line  of  their  trade  communities.  Parts  of  four 
townships  are  included  in  the  parish,  but  only  one  is  entirely 
covered.  Five  small  hamlets  have  each  a  certain  local  im¬ 
portance,  their  neighborhoods  together  covering  most  of  the 
parish  aside  from  the  immediate  environs  of  Quarryville 
and  Christiana.  The  largest  of  these,  and  also  the  one  near¬ 
est  to  the  church  building,  Bart  or  Georgetown  (both  names 
are  used  locally),  has  perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabi¬ 
tants.  Here  are  a  store  and  post-office,  hotel,  restaurant, 
bakery,  blacksmith  shop,  feed  mill,  creamery,  a  hall  and  a 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  Middle  Octoraro  church 
lies  within  its  neighborhood  bounds.  The  other  four  are  all 
quite  small.  Nickel  Mines  has  a  store  and  post-office,  a  now 
unworked  nickel  mine  and  a  small  Protestant  Episcopal 
church.  Nine  Points  has  a  store,  post-office,  blacksmith 
shop  and  creamery.  Bartville  has  a  store  and  post-office. 
Smyrna  has  now  only  a  blacksmith  shop,  its  store  having 
burned. 


A  CHURCH  IN  THE  OPEN  COUNTRY 

Where  the  Middle  Octoraro  church  stands  is  no  sem¬ 
blance  of  a  village  or  hamlet.  An  open  stretch  of  road  wind- 


176 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


ing  through  a  pleasant  valley ;  a  fine  old  stone  church  and  a 
chapel  set  in  a  grove  of  beautiful  trees  with  the  manse,  farm 
buildings  on  the  church  farm  and  cemeteries  hard  by;  a 
stone’s  throw  down  the  road  the  church,  manse  and  ceme¬ 
tery  of  its  now  inactive  neighbor,  the  Upper  Octoraro  United 
Presbyterian  Church,  said  to  be  the  oldest  church  of  this 
denomination  in  America ;  other  farm  homes  showing  in  the 
distance — such  is  the  center  of  this  parish.  As  is  true  of 
more  than  one  of  these  deep-rooted  old  country  churches, 
hamlets  and  villages  do  not  set  bounds  to  its  influence.  It 
draws  members  from  them  all  as  well  as  from  the  surround¬ 
ing  farms;  and  members  moving  from  farm  to  village  are 
not  detached  from  the  country  church  but  still  attend  and 
support  it. 

Here,  then,  in  the  conflict  of  which  many  a  country  neigh¬ 
borhood  is  the  scene,  country  life  is  recentering  its  inter¬ 
ests  as  the  range  of  communication — the  cruising  radius — 
of  the  farm  is  steadily  lengthened.  Against  the  pull  of  the 
larger  centers  no  near-by  country  church  or  neighborhood 
can  long  maintain  itself  unweakened  unless  it  digs  deep  the 
foundations  for  an  enduring  loyalty.  In  this  instance  the 
church  had,  through  a  long  period,  a  slowly  diminishing 
vitality.  Not  so  long  ago  the  community  was  badly  dis¬ 
rupted.  The  people  could  not  be  got  together  on  any  propo¬ 
sition.  Neighborhood  pulled  against  neighborhood  and  the 
two  larger  centers  pulled  against  them  all.  Different  re¬ 
ligious  and  social  groups  ran  lines  of  cleavage  throughout 
the  community.  Between  this  church  and  its  nearest  neigh¬ 
bors  there  was  not  only  little  cooperation  but  even  some 
signs  of  active  antagonism.  These  are  tendencies  which 
have  undermined  more  than  one  country  church  to  the  point 
of  utter  futility.  Now,  a  very  good  community  spirit  is 
developing,  which  has  been  greatly  helped  by  a  Grange,  re¬ 
cently  organized  on  the  initiative  of  the  Presbyterian  pastor. 
The  broader  program  of  the  church  has  extended  and  solidi¬ 
fied  interest.  A  growing  sense  of  unity  is  pervading  the 
entire  area  of  the  parish. 


THE  SUMMER  CAMP  IS  ONE  OF  THE  ACTIVITIES  OF  MIDDLE  OCTORARO  CHURCH 


THE  TWO  HUNDRED  YEAR 
OLD  CHURCH  OF  MIDDLE 
OCTORARO 


TRADE  COMMUNITIES  AND  NEIGHBORHOOD  FROM  WHICH  THE  CHURCH 
DRAWS,  MIDDLE  OCTORARO 


THE  CHURCH  PARISH,  MIDDLE  OCTORARO 


MAP  SHOWING  DISTANCES  OF 
MIDDLE  OCTORARO 


HOMES  OF  CHURCH 


MEMBERS  FROM 


CHURCH, 


{• 


4 


: 


/ 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


177 


farming  and  roads 

Lancaster  County  agriculture  is  too  well  known  to  need 
description  here.  This  particular  section  is  by  no  means  the 
richest  part  of  the  county,  but  it  has  good  land  and  is,  on 
the  whole,  well  farmed.  It  is  a  general  farming  and  dairy 
country.  Wheat,  corn,  tobacco,  potatoes  and  hay  are  its 
chief  products,  and  in  about  that  order  of  importance.  The 
quality  of  the  farming  is  improving;  and  in  this  the  county 
agent  has  an  important  part.  There  are  no  local  coopera¬ 
tive  enterprises ;  but  the  Grange  last  year  did  about  $10,000 
worth  of  cooperative  buying.  Some  local  farmers  are  mem¬ 
bers  of  county  agricultural  associations,  as  the  Tobacco 
Growers,  the  Potato  Growers,  and  the  Hampshire  Hog 
Breeders’  Associations. 

There  is  a  growing  interest  in  good  roads,  for  which  there 
is  need.  There  are  about  three  hundred  miles  of  public 
road  within  the  parish,  but  only  ten  and  one-half  miles  are 
hard-surfaced  and  five  miles  otherwise  improved.  During 
the  winter  the  roads  are  a  serious  problem  in  church  work. 
Both  Quarryville  and  Christiana  provide  an  easy  outlet  to 
near-by  cities  by  rail  and  trolley.  Five  rural  mail  delivery 
routes  from  Quarryville  and  two  from  Christiana,  besides 
four  local  post-offices,  provide  ample  mail  service. 

FRIENDS  AND  NEIGHBORS 

Social  and  fraternal  organizations  there  are  in  ample 
number.  In  the  near-by  villages  are  seven  lodges;  and  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  church  has  two  sewing 
circles,  a  Parent-Teacher  Association  and  the  Grange,  be¬ 
sides  the  various  subsidiary  organizations  of  the  church. 
Certain  of  these  have  had  a  marked  influence  for  good  upon 
the  progress  of  the  community.  Excellent  leadership  is 
available  for  all  lines  of  interest. 

The  Middle  Octoraro  church  shares  religious  responsi¬ 
bility  for  this  community  with  no  fewer  than  sixteen  other 
church  organizations.  Quarryville  and  Christiana  have  each 
three  churches  which  draw  to  a  certain  extent  upon  the 


178 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


area  of  this  parish.  The  parish  boundaries  include  ten 
country  or  hamlet  churches.  Five  of  these  are  near  enough 
to  be  in  some  definite  sense  competitive,  though  one  of  them 
has  recently  suspended  active  work.  Nine  of  the  ten 
churches  own  church  buildings  and  two  have  manses.  There 
is,  however,  no  other  resident  minister  near  at  hand,  and  the 
Presbyterian  pastor  is  in  a  real  sense  pastor  for  the  whole 
area :  for  example,  he  conducts  many  funerals  for  members 
of  other  churches.  The  total  membership  of  these  country 
churches  is  about  five  hundred  and  fifty;  and  of  the  six 
village  churches,  one  thousand  and  thirty. 

On  every  side,  the  parish  of  this  church  reaches  to  that 
of  some  other  Presbyterian  church.  The  parishes  of  three 
country  and  four  village  Presbyterian  churches  touch  it. 
Indeed  the  Middle  Octoraro  church  has  many  members 
whose  residence  suggests  that  they  might  more  conveniently 
belong  to  some  other  Presbyterian  church. 

THE  FIRST  BUILDING 

The  first  church  edifice  was  evidently  built  in  1730  or 
thereabouts.  That  it  was  a  primitive  structure  we  may  well 
believe;  yet  it  served  its  purpose  excellently  for  rjiore  than 
half  a  century  and  housed  a  growing  and  influential  con¬ 
gregation.  It  seems  to  have  been  in  some  sense  a  com¬ 
munity  building,  erected  by  the  combined  efforts  of  the  re¬ 
ligious  people  of  the  surrounding  neighborhood.  Evidence 
of  this  is  found  in  the  knowledge  that  for  some  years  the 
Covenanters  used  it  for  worship  on  alternate  Sabbaths.  In 
1783  the  congregation  purchased  a  farm  from  the  sons  of 
William  Penn,  paying  for  it  fifteen  pounds,  eleven  shillings 
and  six  pence — about  seventy-five  cents  an  acre,  a  fair  price 
for  those  days.  Mention  is  made  in  the  deed  of  a  meeting¬ 
house  and  a  schoolhouse,  erected  or  about  to  be  erected,  and 
of  the  establishment  of  a  graveyard.  In  accordance  with 
the  practice  of  the  time,  certain  improvements  had  evidently 
been  made  on  the  property  before  the  patent  deed  was  ap¬ 
plied  for.  The  oldest  marked  grave  in  the  cemetery  bears 
the  date  of  1732. 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


179 


A  CENTURY  OF  IMPROVEMENTS 

The  present  building  was  erected  some  time  during  the 
pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  W.  Sample,  which  lasted 
from  1781  to  1821.  In  1849  the  structure  was  somewhat 
rearranged  in  its  interior  appointments;  in  1913-14  exten¬ 
sive  improvements  were  made,  including  the  addition  of  a 
bell  tower  and  a  vestibule.  The  manse  was  erected  about 
1850.  In  1882  a  farmhouse  was  built  and  in  1907  a  new 
cemetery  was  established  across  the  road  at  the  north  of  the 
church.  Extensive  improvements  were  made  on  the  prop¬ 
erty  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  pastorate  in  1915 ;  these 
included  the  installation  of  a  water  system  for  the  manse 
and  farmhouse,  complete  remodeling  and  redecorating  of 
the  manse,  repairs  on  the  farmhouse  and  barn  and  the  prop¬ 
erty  generally,  and  a  new  roof  and  new  interior  decorations 
for  the  chapel. 


PRESENT  EQUIPMENT 

That  the  present  equipment  is  not  now  entirely  adequate 
to  the  greatly  broadened  program  of  the  church,  though 
serving  well  its  earlier  purposes,  illustrates  how  strikingly 
our  conception  of  what  a  church  should  do  for  its  com¬ 
munity  has  altered.  This  equipment  consists  of  a  stone 
church  in  excellent  condition,  containing  a  large  auditorium 
and  a  vestibule,  and  set  in  a  grove  an  acre  in  extent ;  a  small 
chapel  near  the  church;  two  cemeteries,  including  six  acres 
of  ground;  an  excellent  manse  with  one  acre  of  ground; 
and  a  farm  of  seventy  acres  with  a  farmhouse,  barn,  and 
the  other  usual  farm  buildings.  The  main  auditorium  can 
seat  comfortably  two  hundred  and  seventy-five ;  but  on  spe¬ 
cial  occasions  at  least  four  hundred  can  be  crowded  into  it. 
It  is  heated  with  a  pipeless  furnace  and  lighted  by  oil  lamps. 
The  interior  appointments  are  simple  and  attractive.  There 
are  an  organ  and  a  piano.  The  chapel  has  two  rooms,  a 
kitchen,  and  a  main  room  which  is  used  for  social  purposes 
and  by  the  younger  classes  in  the  Sunday  school.  This,  too, 
is  provided  with  an  organ  and  a  piano.  The  chapel  is  also 


180 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


much  used  for  various  sorts  of  community  meetings.  The 
total  value  of  the  property  is  about  $30,000.  Thus  two  cen¬ 
turies  have  seen  a  substantial  and  solid  advance  in  property 
and  equipment,  but,  even  so,  the  physical  assets  have  not 
kept  pace  with  Middle  Octoraro’s  changing  thought  as  to 
the  function  of  the  church. 

FINANCES 

The  finances  of  the  church  are  well  organized  and  con¬ 
ducted  in  a  businesslike  manner.  The  budget  system  is  in 
use  for  both  current  expenses  and  benevolences.  An  annual 
every-member  canvass  is  made  on  the  basis  of  this  budget, 
twenty  teams  of  two  men  each  taking  part  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  trustees.  Duplex  weekly  envelopes  are  used  by 
most  of  the  congregation.  Only  the  members  of  the  church 
are  solicited;  but  almost  all  of  the  families  represented  in 
the  congregation  (including  a  good  proportion  of  the  non¬ 
resident  members)  contribute  regularly.  The  church  is  free 
from  debt,  the  last  obligation  which  results  from  the  re¬ 
modeling  of  the  property  having  been  cleared  of!  seven 
years  ago. 

The  total  income  of  the  church  during  its  last  fiscal  year 
was  about  $4,400,  and  its  expenditures  were  about  $200 
less.  A  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  expenditures  were 
for  benevolent  purposes.  In  addition,  the  various  subsidiary 
organizations  raised  about  $760,  approximately  two-thirds 
of  this  going  for  benevolences.  Thus  out  of  a  total  expendi¬ 
ture  of  about  $5,000,  42  per  cent,  was  for  missionary  causes. 
Here  are  to  be  seen  the  fruits  of  that  program  of  missionary 
education  which  is  one  of  the  most  important  recent  develop¬ 
ments  in  the  church’s  work  and  to  which  reference  will  be 
made  in  a  later  paragraph. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  rate  of  per  capita  giving  has 
not  been  as  high  as  in  many  churches  less  able  financially  to 
give.  That  is  not,  however,  a  peculiar  characteristic  of  this 
particular  congregation  but  a  feature  of  many  churches  of 
similar  type  and  history.  It  is  conservatism  and  caution 
rather  than  lack  of  generosity.  For  example,  such  churches 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


181 


have  been  slow  to  put  the  salaries  of  their  ministers  on  a 
plane  commensurate  with  the  rising  living  costs  and  the  dig¬ 
nity  and  importance  of  their  position.  The  modern  rural 
minister,  required  to  keep  an  automobile  and  use  it  con¬ 
stantly  in  the  service  of  his  church,  and  to  keep  abreast  in 
his  study  and  reading  with  all  the  movements  of  his  time, 
without  doubt  needs  a  salary  which  many  a  country  church 
cannot  bring  itself  to  consider  either  necessary  or  possible. 
It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  this  church  has  paid  a 
salary  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars.  It  has  raised  the 
minister’s  salary  three  times  during  the  present  pastorate 
and  brought  it  up  to  the  announced  minimum  of  its  Synod 
and  denomination.  If  the  status  of  the  church  (the  extent 
of  its  parish,  the  breadth  of  its  program,  the  size  of  its 
membership)  be  considered  and  compared  with  other  of 
the  churches  studied,  many  of  them  less  favorably  situated, 
that  minimum  is,  by  a  considerable  margin,  too  low. 

BENEVOLENCE 

For  one  hundred  years,  until  just  recently,  there  was  no 
great  change  in  the  rate  of  benevolent  giving.  Prior  to 
1920  when,  with  the  initiation  of  the  Presbyterian  New  Era 
Movement,  this  church  registered  its  initial  considerable  gain 
in  benevolence  contributions,  its  annual  missionary  offerings 
usually  ranged  from  $100  to  $200.  The  lowest  annual 
amount  reported  in  the  minutes  of  the  General  Assembly 
was  ten  dollars  in  1828;  but  the  total  reported  in  1833, 
$380,  was  not  exceeded  until  1918.  A  year-by-year  record 
shows  considerable  variation,  but  a  variation  around  a  more 
or  less  constant  norm.  Very  great  increase  has  been  made, 
however,  in  the  last  three  years,  the  total  for  which  approxi¬ 
mately  equals  the  total  for  the  preceding  fifteen  years.  The 
increase  in  the  total  budget  of  the  church  for  all  purposes, 
including  local  support,  has  been  slower  and  not  so  great. 
Before  1914  a  total  contribution  of  ten  dollars  per  capita 
was  exceeded  only  once,  in  1883.  Usually  the  per  capita 
total  contributions  ranged  between  four  and  seven  dollars  a 
year.  The  total  amount  raised  last  year  was  the  highest  in 


182 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


the  history  of  the  church,  although  the  per  capita  giving 
at  present  is  certainly  not  greater  than  it  was,  on  the  aver¬ 
age,  fifty  years  ago,  if  one  compares  the  relative  purchasing 
power  of  the  dollar  then  and  now. 

A  CHANGING  POPULATION 

Perhaps  this  section  of  Pennsylvania  has  experienced  less 
rapid  and  fundamental  change  in  the  composition  of  its 
population  than  have  most  rural  communities  throughout 
the  country.  There  are  about  as  many  people  on  its  farms 
as  at  any  time  in  the  last  century  and  a  half  and  a  large 
proportion  of  them  were  born  in  this  or  adjacent  com¬ 
munities.  Yet  not  more  than  a  dozen  families  in  the  present 
membership  of  the  Middle  Octoraro  church  represent  the 
original  stock  that  founded  it.  Such  a  statement  may  not 
seem  of  particular  significance  to  a  church  which  has 
watched  its  community  change  almost  completely  several 
times  in  a  generation,  as  many  have.  Still  less  would  it 
seem  of  significance  to  a  church  which  remembers  that  where 
it  now  stands  no  one  was  living  a  generation  ago.  But  some 
old  churches  have  declined  from  great  strength  almost  to 
the  point  of  abandonment,  because  their  communities  have 
slowly  changed,  the  original  stock  being  replaced  by  a  stock 
not  native  to  their  religious  and  social  tradition.  These 
slow  changes  are  often  more  deadly  than  rapid  ones.  Some¬ 
times  such  a  church,  lacking  the  mood  to  adjust  itself  to  new 
conditions,  seems  to  wrap  the  mantle  of  its  self-content  about 
it  and  lie  down  in  peace  to  die,  because  the  newcomers  who 
surround  it  are  “not  of  its  sort.”  But  this  Middle  Octoraro 
church  has  overcome  the  subtle  temptation  that  inheres  in 
the  dignity  of  its  tradition.  That  it  is  stronger  now  than  it 
has  been  for  nearly  a  century  is  a  fact  of  the  greatest  signifi¬ 
cance;  and  the  lesson  of  it  is  a  lesson  that  many  an  old 
church  needs  to  learn. 

ANALYSIS  OF  MEMBERSHIP 

A  total  membership  of  three  hundred  and  forty-nine 
places  the  Middle  Octoraro  church  in  a  very  select  fellow- 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


183 


ship  of  open  country  churches.  There  are  larger  organiza¬ 
tions,  of  course;  indeed,  two  of  its  nearest  Presbyterian 
neighbors  have  greater  memberships.  But  the  whole  number 
of  open  country  churches  with  more  than  three  hundred 
members  is  small.  The  average  membership  of  all  the 
country  churches  in  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  counties, 
for  which  figures  are  available  (2,920  churches),  is  only 
eighty-two.  Of  this  present  membership  of  three  hundred 
and  forty,  sixty  are  non-resident.  There  are  a  number  of 
non-resident  members  who  should  transfer  their  letters  to 
other  churches,  and  who  are  being  urged  to  do  so.  There 
are  besides  some  who  are  only  temporarily  non-resident. 
Of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  resident  members,  thir¬ 
teen  are  incapacitated  by  illness  or  other  cause  from  any 
church  activity;  and  sixteen  are  non-active,  that  is,  they  do 
not  either  support  the  church  or  attend  its  services.  This 
makes  a  net  resident  active  membership  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty.  The  total  membership  includes  representatives  of 
one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  families,  averaging  1.8  mem¬ 
bers  per  family. 

A  church  which  has  had  a  normal,  healthy  growth  and 
which  has  a  well-balanced  program  ought  not  to  be  limited 
in  its  appeal  by  considerations  of  age,  sex  or  class.  Cer¬ 
tainly  it  ought  not  to  fail  conspicuously  in  reaching  any 
particular  element  in  its  community.  The  membership  of 
this  church  is  a  very  fair  cross-section  of  its  community, 
45  per  cent,  of  the  total  being  men  and  boys.  One-sixth  are 
under  twenty-one  years  of  age ;  slightly  more  than  one-half 
are  between  twenty-one  and  forty-five ;  a  little  less  than  one- 
third  are  over  forty-five.  In  the  upper  ages  the  women  con¬ 
siderably  predominate;  but  in  the  intermediate  age  group 
the  men  are  in  the  majority.  The  number  under  twenty-one 
exceeds  by  a  wide  margin  the  number  enrolled  in  the  local 
high  school  and  has  a  much  higher  proportion  of  boys. 
Here,  then,  is  a  well-distributed  membership  in  which  there 
is  promise  of  strength  for  the  future. 

Of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  resident  members, 
nineteen  live  in  Christiana  and  Quarryville,  thirty-six  in 
other  near-by  villages  and  hamlets  and  two  hundred  and 


184 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


thirty-four,  or  more  than  four-fifths,  live  on  farms.  Those 
making  up  this  latter  group  are  distributed  over  considerable 
territory.  Thirty-six  of  them  live  within  a  mile  of  the 
church ;  sixty-nine  within  three  miles ;  one  hundred  and  two 
from  three  to  five  miles  distant ;  and  twenty-seven  more  than 
five  miles  away.  The  majority  of  those  who  live  in  the  vil¬ 
lages  or  hamlets  are  four  and  one-half  miles  or  more  from 
the  church.  This  wide  distribution  has  a  distinct  effect  upon 
church  attendance,  especially  in  winter  or  when  the  roads  are 
in  poor  condition. 

The  wage-earners  in  the  congregation  represent  a  variety 
of  occupations,  but  nearly  three-fifths  of  them,  including  in 
their  families  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  resident  mem¬ 
bership,  are  farmers.  Farm-owners,  renters  and  laborers 
are  enrolled,  apparently  with  almost  equal  facility.  Indeed, 
the  proportion  of  tenants  among  the  operating  farmers  on 
the  church  roll  is  larger  than  the  proportion  of  tenants 
among  the  operating  farmers  of  the  community. 

HOW  THE  MEMBERS  CAME 

During  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Shea’s  pastorate  virtually 
two-thirds  of  the  total  present  membership  was  brought  into 
the  church.  Of  the  others,  fifty-two  joined  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  thirty-three  within  thirty  years  and  twenty- 
one  within  forty  years,  while  seventeen  have  been  members 
for  over  forty  years.  Of  the  whole  number  91  per  cent, 
united  with  this  church  on  confession  of  faith,  other 
churches  contributing  by  letter  only  thirty-one  members. 
Churches  of  other  denominations,  however,  have  contributed 
to  the  membership  in  other  ways  than  the  dismissal  of  mem¬ 
bers  by  letter.  One-fifth  of  those  making  up  the  member¬ 
ship  were  previously  connected,  as  members,  adherents  or 
by  family  training,  with  churches  representing  twelve  other 
denominations. 

Stability  to  a  high  degree  is  indicated  in  the  fact  that 
more  than  two-thirds  of  all  the  members  were  born  in  this 
community.  Only  thirteen  members  were  born  outside  of 
Lancaster  County  and  only  three  of  these  came  from  states 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


185 


other  than  Pennsylvania.  Nearly  two-thirds  of  the  families 
are  in  at  least  their  second  generation  in  this  community. 
Only  one  in  seven  has  lived  here  less  than  ten  years.  Here 
is  a  great  initial  advantage,  though  its  significance  must  be 
read  in  the  light  of  the  comments  previously  made.  The 
Scotch-Irish  stock  no  longer  predominates,  a  considerable 
proportion  now  having  German  ancestry.  The  church  rep¬ 
resents  now  a  real  amalgamation  of  the  various  elements  out 
of  which  its  community  has  been  made. 

PARTICIPATION  IN  ACTIVITIES 

In  spite  of  distances,  the  regular  activities  of  the  church 
have  a  remarkable  hold  upon  the  loyalty  of  its  members. 
Three  in  five  regularly  attend  its  services  of  worship,  nearly 
half  regularly  attend  the  Sunday  school,  and  seven  in  ten 
regularly  attend  its  various  special  exercises.  The  number 
who  habitually  do  not  attend  any  of  these  services  is  almost 
negligible.  Of  the  active  members  45  per  cent,  have  as¬ 
sumed  some  definite  responsibility  in  connection  with  the 
church  program.  These  are  the  officers,  teachers,  choir 
members,  ushers,  committee  chairmen  and  the  regular  par¬ 
ticipants  in  the  various  public  exercises.  A  considerable 
number  of  others  are  members  of  the  different  organizations 
in  the  church.  This  may  be  regarded  as  a  rather  unusual 
record.  These  active  workers  represent  all  ages;  but  rela¬ 
tively  to  their  numbers  those  under  twenty-one  furnish  the 
largest  quota.  Of  the  total  membership,  including  the  non¬ 
resident  and  the  non-active,  all  but  fifty-four  participate  in 
the  support  of  the  church,  and  all  but  seventy  in  the  sup¬ 
port  of  its  benevolences. 

ATTENDANCE 

The  average  aggregate  attendance  per  week  throughout 
the  year,  for  all  the  services  of  the  church,  is  five  hundred 
and  nineteen,  or  almost  exactly  double  the  resident,  active 
membership.  The  variations  in  the  attendance  as  between 
the  different  seasons  of  the  year  are  interesting,  for  seasonal 


186 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


climatic  conditions  affect  the  country  far  more  than  the  city 
church.  Thus,  attendance  at  worship  is  highest  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  year  when  the  average  is  almost  three  times 
what  it  is  in  the  first  quarter.  In  the  two  middle  quarters 
of  the  year  attendance  at  worship  is  double  what  it  is  the 
first  three  months.  Similarly,  religious  education  attendance 
during  the  three  severe  winter  months  is  less  than  40  per 
cent,  of  the  average  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  Interest  in 
missions  is  at  its  peak  in  the  fall,  when  the  school  of  mis¬ 
sions  described  later  is  under  way.  Social  and  recreational 
activities  are  highest  in  the  spring  quarter,  but  maintain  a 
very  even  average  through  the  year,  with  the  exception  of 
the  first  three  months.  The  aggregate  attendance  of  all 
services  and  functions  of  this  church  during  the  year  ex¬ 
ceeds  twenty-seven  thousand,  more  than  one-third  of  this 
total  coming  in  the  last  three  months. 

Expressed  statistically,  44  per  cent,  of  all  the  time  given 
by  these  people  to  their  church  is  devoted  to  services  of 
worship.  Twenty-one  per  cent,  is  given  to  mission  services, 
14  per  cent,  to  religious  education,  and  21  per  cent,  to  social, 
recreational  and  musical  occasions.  Perhaps  the  most  re¬ 
markable  feature  of  this  distribution  is  the  proportionately 
large  share  of  interest  that  goes  to  missions.  This,  as  will 
be  noted  subsequently,  receives  an  important  place  in  the 
whole  program  of  the  church.  There  are,  of  course,  inter¬ 
changeable  values  in  all  these  forms  of  activity.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  activities,  certainly,  are  educational,  and  they  also 
have  their  recreational  features.  Religious  education  in¬ 
cludes  both  worship  and  missionary  instruction.  And  very 
real  religious  values  run  through  the  whole.  The  weakest 
point  that  this  analysis  discloses  is  the  religious  education. 
This  is  confirmed  by  other  data,  to  which  reference  will  be 
made.  It  is  in  this  connection  that  the  program  most  needs 
to  be  strengthened. 


MEETINGS 

Regular  Sabbath  services  of  worship  are  held  morning 
and  evening  throughout  the  year.  Attendance  at  the 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


187 


morning  service  averages  one  hundred  and  seventy-five, 
except  during  the  first  three  months  of  the  year,  when  it 
hardly  exceeds  seventy-five.  Attendance  at  the  evening 
services  ranges  anywhere  from  one  hundred  to  four  hundred, 
but  averages  not  far  from  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  two 
services  reach  somewhat  different  sorts  of  audiences.  In  the 
morning  at  least  70  per  cent,  of  the  attendants  are  adults, 
divided  about  equally  between  men  and  women,  and  almost 
all  of  them  are  church  members.  In  the  evening  at  least 
75  per  cent,  are  young  people,  the  young  men  being  in  the 
majority,  and  usually  not  less  than  one-fourth  being  non¬ 
members. 

The  young  people’s  service  is  held  in  the  evening,  is  con¬ 
ducted  by  the  young  people  themselves,  and  followed  by  the 
preaching  service.  The  evening  service  is  a  community 
affair  and  draws  from  a  radius  of  many  miles,  the  young 
people  having  learned  the  apostolic  practice  of  going  forth 
to  service  two  by  two.  On  the  first  Sunday  in  each  month, 
the  young  people’s  Home  Mission  Society  takes  charge  of 
the  evening  service  and  provides  a  popular  home  mission 
program  which  usually  includes  something  in  the  form  of 
pageantry  or  tableau.  The  regularity  of  attendance  at  serv¬ 
ices  is  affected  primarily  during  the  winter  months  by  the 
state  of  the  roads  and  the  weather.  Until  1921  it  was  cus¬ 
tomary  to  discontinue  the  evening  services  during  the  winter; 
but  they  were  continued  in  the  winter  of  1922-23  by  way  of 
experiment,  with  good  success,  and  it  is  planned  to  maintain 
the  custom. 

The  only  regular  union  service  with  another  church  is  the 
Union  Thanksgiving  Service  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  of  Georgetown ;  and  to  it  no  great  amount  of  interest 
attaches.  The  Young  People’s  Society,  however,  occasionally 
exchanges  visits  with  other  young  people’s  societies  in  the 
vicinity,  including  some  of  other  denominations. 

From  October  to  April,  cottage  prayer  meetings  are  held, 
one  or  two  a  week,  the  average  attendance  being  from  thirty 
to  thirty-five.  A  protracted  meeting  is  held  virtually  every 
fall,  usually  for  eight  days,  but  on  the  last  occasion  for 
two  weeks.  During  the  present  pastorate  there  has  been, 


188 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


with  one  exception,  such  a  protracted  meeting  every  fall. 
The  meeting  in  1921  resulted  in  twenty-eight  conversions 
and  the  same  number  of  additions  to  the  church.  Of  the 
twenty-eight,  eighteen  were  adults  and  ten  were  Sunday 
school  children.  A  professional  evangelist  has  not  been 
employed  since  1915.  Generally  the  results  of  the  evan¬ 
gelistic  services  have  been  excellent.  In  1921  there  was  a 
very  evident  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  church. 
The  services  in  1922  were  not  so  effective. 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

The  Sunday  school  has  an  enrollment  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty-seven,  and  an  average  attendance  of  one  hundred  and 
ten,  except  during  the  three  months  of  winter,  when  it  drops 
to  about  fifty.  Nearly  all  the  members  of  the  Sunday  school 
live  on  farms  and  the  factor  of  distance  and  the  condition 
of  the  roads  are  very  important.  During  the  three  months 
of  winter,  when  the  attendance  is  at  low  ebb,  fewer  classes 
are  held  and  a  less  thorough-going  system  of  grading  is 
used.  The  classes  include :  Adult  Men’s  Class,  Adult 
Women’s  Class,  Teacher-Training  Class,  Young  Women’s 
Class,  Young  Men’s  Class,  three  classes  for  “teen”-age  girls, 
two  for  “teen”-age  boys,  one  Junior  Boys’,  one  Junior 
Girls’,  one  Primary  Class  of  boys,  one  Primary  Girls’,  and 
one  Beginners’.  The  five  younger  classes  use  the  chapel. 
Four  classes,  for  adult  men,  young  men,  and  “teen”-age 
boys  are  taught  by  men.  The  two  young  people’s  classes, 
and  the  adult  women’s  class  are  organized.  The  Boys’  and 
Girls’  classes  were  organized,  but  the  organization  has  not 
been  kept  up.  Virtually  all  of  the  classes  use  graded  lessons. 
The  Sunday  school  is  organized  into  two  groups  with  a 
superintendent  for  each  group,  according  to  its  place  of 
meeting.  There  are  a  Cradle  Roll  and  a  Home  Department, 
each  with  an  enrollment  of  thirty.  The  Teacher-Training 
Class  is  a  part  of  the  Sunday  school,  meeting  at  the  regular 
hour. 

Little’s  Cross  and  Crown  system  has  been  used  to  increase 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


189 


the  attendance.  Special  equipment  for  work  includes  picture 
studies,  maps  and  small  chairs  for  the  younger  classes. 
Sunday  school  papers  are  not  given.  The  school  library 
consists  of  one  hundred  volumes.  There  is  an  annual  Sun¬ 
day  school  picnic  which  is  the  only  regular  recreational  affair 
of  the  school  as  a  whole.  Various  classes,  however,  have 
socials.  The  young  people’s  classes  entertain  one  another. 
Mission  study  is  a  part  of  the  Sunday  school  program  once 
a  month.  Missionary  offerings  are  taken  on  special  oc¬ 
casions  and  sent  to  the  Home  and  Foreign  Mission  Boards. 
The  minister  is  an  alternate  teacher  of  the  Young  Men’s 
Class.  The  regular  communion  Sabbaths  are  observed  as 
Decision  Days  with  excellent  results.  Twelve  young  people 
in  this  church  are  now  attending  college  or  some  other  school 
beyond  high  school  grade.  The  church  has  not  contributed 
any  one  to  the  ministry  or  other  form  of  employed  Christian 
work  in  the  last  ten  years.  The  Sunday  school  was  repre¬ 
sented  during  the  last  year  by  twelve  delegates  to  the  County 
Sunday  School  Convention  and  eight  to  the  state  convention. 
The  school  met  the  expenses  of  two  of  the  delegates  to  the 
state  convention.  The  Sunday  school  is  supported  out  of 
its  own  regular  offerings,  the  total  cost  last  year  being  about 
$125. 

The  church  has  never  held  a  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School 
or  a  week-day  religious  school.  Plans  are  being  made,  how¬ 
ever,  for  a  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School  to  be  held  next 
summer,  probably  on  a  group  plan. 

OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS 

There  are  four  other  organizations  in  the  church,  two  of 
which  are  distinctively  missionary  in  purpose.  The  Woman’s 
Missionary  Society  for  Home  and  Foreign  Missions,  with  a 
membership  of  seventy,  has  an  all-day  meeting  once  a  month. 
The  Young  Woman’s  Guild,  for  girls  between  twelve  and 
twenty,  has  a  membership  of  thirty-one.  It  has  one  after¬ 
noon  meeting  each  month.  Under  the  leadership  of  the 
Woman’s  Boards  of  Missions,  such  local  groups  as  these 


190 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


have  achieved  a  place  of  great  importance  in  the  missionary 
life  and  work  of  the  church.  Not  with  anything  even  re¬ 
motely  approaching  the  same  thoroughness  have  the  men 
of  the  churches  been  organized  for  the  study  and  support  of 
missions.  These  two  organizations  have  taken  the  lead 
locally  in  pressing  the  great  missionary  causes  upon  the 
attention  of  this  church.  Its  very  real  and  apparent  interest 
is  a  tribute  to  their  energy  and  skill. 

The  Young  People’s  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  has 
a  membership  of  forty.  Its  regular  weekly  meetings  have  an 
attendance  running  up  to  one  hundred  and  averaging  sixty. 
They  also  conduct  well  attended  monthly  socials.  Until 
recently,  the  pastor  has  acted  as  leader  for  a  fine  troop  of 
Boy  Scouts.  This  work  has  been  temporarily  discontinued, 
but  will  be  resumed  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  church  has  the  life  eldership  plan  and  its  Session  now 
includes  five  elders.  The  Board  of  Trustees  has  nine  mem¬ 
bers,  elected  on  a  rotary  membership  plan  for  three-year 
terms.  All  but  one  of  these  fourteen  officers  are  farmers. 

THE  GENERAL  PROGRAM 

At  each  annual  congregational  meeting,  the  pastor  out¬ 
lines  a  general  program  of  church  activities  for  the  year  to 
be  considered  and  approved  by  the  congregation.  This  has 
been  effective  in  securing  the  interest  of  the  members.  A 
somewhat  more  formal  process,  however,  now  seems  to  be 
desirable.  Plans  are  therefore  under  way  more  definitely 
to  crystallize  the  working  organization  of  the  church  through 
the  formation  of  a  pastor’s  cabinet  which  will  include  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  various  organizations  and  interests  in  the 
church.  It  will  be  the  function  of  this  cabinet  to  coordinate 
the  various  lines  of  work  and  cooperate  with  the  pastor  in 
the  general  direction  of  all  activities.  The  multiplicity  of 
the  interests  which  have  developed  makes  some  such  ar¬ 
rangement  a  practical  necessity. 

This  church  believes  in  making  religion  both  articulate  and 
active.  Not  without  reason  does  it  style  itself  “The  Church 
of  Community  Interest.”  Its  annual  program  is  varied  to 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


191 


touch  every  interest  and  appeal  to  every  element.  If  the 
stated  activities  were  set  down  in  calendar  form  the  result 
would  be  something  like  the  following: 

All  Year  Activities 

Preaching  service,  every  Sunday,  morning  and  evening. 

Christian  Endeavor,  every  Sunday  evening. 

Sunday  school,  every  Sunday  morning. 

Popular  home  mission  service  conducted  by  the  young 
people,  first  Sunday  evening  in  each  month. 

Monthly  socials  under  the  auspices  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society,  varying  in  type  according  to  the 
season.  These  are  held  outdoors  in  summer  and  in 
the  chapel  in  winter.  The  average  attendance  exceeds 
fifty.  They  include  a  swimming  social  in  August,  a 
corn  roast  in  September,  a  strawberry  festival  in 
June,  a  “bacon  bat”  in  the  fall,  etc. 

Woman’s  Missionary  Society,  meeting  once  a  month. 

Young  Woman’s  Guild,  meeting  once  a  month. 

Session,  meeting  once  a  month. 

Board  of  Trustees,  meeting  quarterly. 

Communion  service,  celebrated  twice  a  year. 

Choir,  meeting  weekly  for  practice. 

Seasonal  Activities 

Annual  Easter  cantata  regularly  given  on  Easter  Sun¬ 
day  night. 

Annual  lawn  fete  conducted  by  Young  Woman’s  Guild 
with  an  average  attendance  of  two  hundred  in 
June. 

Annual  strawberry  shortcake  festival  in  June,  attend¬ 
ance  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred. 

Annual  Children’s  Day  service,  June. 

Annual  congregational  business  meeting,  June.  Aver¬ 
age  attendance,  seventy-five. 

Annual  social  of  Young  Men’s  and  Young  Women’s 
Bible  classes  in  July;  each  class  acts  as  host  in  al¬ 
ternate  years ;  average  attendance,  fifty. 

Annual  social  for  whole  church  conducted  by  Young 
Ladies’  Bible  Class  in  July  or  August. 

Annual  Sunday  school  picnic,  August,  attendance,  two 
hundred. 


192 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Annual  musical  service  or  recital,  September,  given  by 
and  for  the  choir,  average  attendance,  two  hundred. 

Cottage  prayer  meetings  held  for  seven  months  be¬ 
ginning  in  October,  one  or  two  weeks,  various  homes 
being  opened  for  this  purpose,  average  attendance, 
thirty-five. 

Annual  evangelistic  services  eight  days  to  two  weeks, 
October  or  November. 

Annual  bazaar  given  by  Young  Ladies’  Bible  Class  on 
the  Friday  afternoon  after  Thanksgiving,  average  at¬ 
tendance,  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

Union  Thanksgiving  service  with  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Church  of  Georgetown,  average  attendance, 
forty. 

Annual  School  of  Missions ;  though  this  was  held  a  year 
ago  for  the  first  time,  it  will  be  made  a  regular  fea¬ 
ture  of  the  program.  The  plan  followed  is  to  have 
group  meetings  in  homes.  There  were  seven  groups 
last  year,  at  various  natural  centers  in  the  community. 
Each  group  met  one  night  a  week  for  six  successive 
weeks  in  the  late  fall.  There  were  two  teachers  for 
each  school  except  one,  which  was  taught  by  the 
pastor;  the  teachers  were  drawn  from  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  where  the  group  met.  The  average  attendance 
was  twenty-two  a  week  for  each  group  or  a  total 
average  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  a  week.  These 
group  schools  followed  the  methods  usual  in  such  en¬ 
terprises,  studying  the  interdenominational  mission 
texts  of  the  year.  The  group  feature  was  an  inter¬ 
esting  variation  which  illustrates  the  significance  of 
much  of  the  effort  of  this  church  to  create  a  parish  in 
an  area  which  has  no  common  gathering  point  except 
the  church  and  which  is  so  definitely  divided  in  its 

*  trade  and  social  interests.  It  is  interesting  also  that 
one  of  the  groups  met  in  the  village  of  Christiana, 
where  there  is  another  Presbyterian  church.  The 
demand  for  this  came  from  the  members  resident  in 
the  village.  The  pastor  of  the  village  church  not 
feeling  able  to  undertake  it,  the  pastor  of  the  country 
church  promoted  it  successfully. 

Annual  Christmas  service  either  Sunday  or  week  night. 
Last  year  a  cantata  was  given ;  there  was  a  tree  with 
the  usual  appurtenances  thereto. 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


193 


Two  midweek  social  and  missionary  meetings  conducted 
each  year  by  the  Woman’s  Missionary  Society  for  the 
benefit  of  missions,  average  attendance,  sixty-five. 

Annual  Sunday  evening  missionary  service  conducted 
by  the  Young  Woman’s  Guild. 

The  young  women  of  the  church  frequently  present 
pageants  and  tableaux  to  illustrate  various  aspects  of 
mission  work.  A  year  ago  a  pageant,  ‘‘The  Trial  of 
Civilization,”  an  original  product  of  one  of  the  mem¬ 
bers,  illustrating  the  triumph  of  Christianity  among 
non-Christian  people,  was  presented  twice  with  an 
aggregate  attendance  of  nearly  five  hundred. 

Other  Activities  and  Interests 

Outside  speakers  are  frequently  heard  during  the  year 
on  missionary  and  similar  topics.  For  example,  the 
subject  of  Near  East  Relief  was  presented  at  a  morn¬ 
ing  service  in  April. 

A  representative  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League  spoke  at 
a  morning  service  in  May. 

The  superintendent  of  the  Department  of  Jewish 
Evangelization  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home 
Missions  spoke  at  both  morning  and  evening  services 
on  a  Sunday  in  June. 

A  Field  Representative  of  the  Department  of  Jewish 
Evangelization  spoke  at  a  morning  service  in  Novem¬ 
ber  and  with  a  young  woman  associate  presented  a 
series  of  eight  tableaux  at  the  evening  service  as¬ 
sisted  by  the  young  people  of  the  congregation. 

A  missionary  from  the  southern  mountains  spoke  at  an 
evening  service  in  November. 

The  pastor  also  frequently  uses  stereopticon  lectures 
provided  by  the  Boards  of  Home  and  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  in  his  evening  services. 

Various  organizations  of  the  church  from  time  to  time 
cooperate  with  other  churches.  For  example,  the  choir 
sang  at  a  service  in  Holtwood  and  later  during  an 
evangelistic  service  in  the  Gap  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  pageant  “The  Trial  of  Civilization”  was  given  in 
Quarryville.  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  vis¬ 
ited  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  of  the  Christiana 
church  and  entertained  it  in  return.  Such  visits  are 
exchanged  usually  with  other  churches  two  or  three 


194 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


times  a  year.  The  Evangelical  church  at  Eden  pre¬ 
sented  a  play,  ‘‘Home  Ties,”  under  the  auspices  of 
this  church,  in  the  hall  at  Georgetown. 

A  number  of  years  ago  there  was  a  lack  of  library 
facilities  within  this  community.  Lancaster  County 
has  no  public  library  system,  and  it  was  possible  to 
obtain  books  only  from  the  Lancaster  City  Library. 
In  consequence  the  pastor  arranged  for  the  installa¬ 
tion  of  five  branch  libraries  within  this  parish. 
Each  branch  has  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  volumes, 
changed  usually  once  a  year.  Each  branch  is  used 
quite  freely  in  its  neighborhood. 

Last  fall,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Boy  Scouts,  a  radio 
set  was  installed  in  the  manse  for  a  number  of  weeks 
as  a  demonstration.  This  aroused  interest  through¬ 
out  the  community. 


These  are  all  activities  which  are  carried  on  directly  by 
the  church  or  its  subsidiary  organizations.  The  missionary 
and  community  interests  of  the  church  are  apparent  in  all 
that  it  does.  They  have  never  undertaken  the  support  of  a 
mission  “Special,”  unless  we  so  regard  the  support,  with  a 
small  sum  of  money  each  year,  of  a  mission  Sunday  school 
in  Kentucky.  Most  of  the  benevolence  money  contributed 
goes  to  the  general  work  of  the  various  boards  of  the 
church.  Whatever  need  appears  for  local  relief  within  the 
community  is  systematically  taken  care  of  by  the  Mission¬ 
ary  Society.  This  calls  for  perhaps  $100  a  year  in  money; 
but  the  members  visit  the  sick,  sew  for  the  poor  and  help  in 
emergencies  of  all  kinds. 

In  the  regular  church  services,  the  effort  is  consistently 
made  to  apply  the  gospel  teachings  to  the  apparent  needs 
both  of  the  community  and  of  the  whole  world.  Missions 
are  after  all  only  the  practical  application  of  the  gospel. 
And  missions  have  a  local  significance  which  is  no  whit  less 
important  than  their  national  or  world-wide  significance. 
So  the  minister,  in  his  preaching  and  his  public  prayers  as 
well  as  in  his  plans,  emphasizes  what  the  abundant  life  of 
the  gospel  may  really  mean  in  the  community.  He  has 
preached  special  sermons  on  the  relation  of  the  church  to 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


195 


such  problems  as  health,  social  life  and  economic  welfare. 

In  addition  to  these  various  more  or  less  official  lines  of 
activity,  the  church  has  unofficially  exerted  its  influence  in 
other  lines,  through  the  minister  and  members,  acting  as 
individuals  to  bring  about  needed  improvements.  Among 
the  achievements  so  recorded  the  following  are  the  most 
important : 

This  community  had  never  had  a  Chautauqua  until  two 
years  ago.  There  was  some  interest  in  it,  but  this  interest 
was  not  organized  and  could  not  overcome  the  opposition 
of  those  who  felt  that  the  difficulties  were  too  serious.  The 
American  Engineers  in  France  had  a  motto — “It  can’t  be 
done — here  it  is.”  That  is  also  the  motto  of  this  minister 
and  his  helpers.  A  successful  Community  Chautauqua  has 
been  held  at  Ouarryville  for  two  summers. 

We  have  already  noted  that  until  recently  the  community 
was  badly  broken  up  and  without  any  sense  of  social  or 
religious  unity.  One  of  the  forces  which  have  helped  to 
unite  it  has  been  the  Grange.  This  was  organized  in  1920 
largely  as  a  result  of  Mr.  Shea’s  initiative.  It  now  has  a 
membership  of  one  hundred  and  is  accomplishing  an  im¬ 
portant  work. 

No  organization  in  Lancaster  County  is  doing  more  for 
general  farm  progress  than  the  Farm  Bureau.  Last  sum¬ 
mer  Mr.  Shea  cooperated  with  the  county  agent  in  a 
county-wide  drive  for  new  members.  He  devoted  three 
weeks  to  addressing  meetings,  organizing  township  groups 
and  reaching  individual  farmers.  In  this  drive  he  had 
charge  of  the  southern  half  of  the  county. 

Members  of  the  church  and  the  minister  were  also  chiefly 
instrumental  in  the  organization  of  a  Parent-Teacher  Asso¬ 
ciation.  It  has  now  been  active  for  two  years,  meeting 
monthly  either  in  the  chapel  of  the  church  or  in  the  school- 
house. 

Usually  a  community  singing  school  is  conducted  in  the 
fall  of  the  year  in  the  chapel.  The  most  successful  of  these 
was  three  years  ago  when  a  school  of  sixty  was  enrolled, 
meeting  one  night  a  week  for  thirteen  weeks.  A  paid  leader 
was  brought  out  from  Lancaster.  The  work  consisted  in 
elemental  voice  training  and  the  principles  and  practice  of 
general  part  singing. 


196 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


Mr.  Shea  has  charge  of  the  annual  temperance  meeting 
of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.,  arranging  the  program  and  securing 
the  speakers. 


PUBLICITY 

With  so  many  things  to  make  known,  the  Middle  Octoraro 
church  naturally  believes  in  publicity,  which  is  principally  of 
four  sorts.  Announcements  both  of  the  regular  services  and 
of  all  special  events  are  inserted  in  the  papers  of  Quarry- 
ville,  Christiana  and  Lancaster.  The  papers  make  no  charge 
for  this  service.  For  special  events  display  advertisements 
are  also  frequently  used.  The  cost  of  these  is  met  by  the 
particular  organizations  giving  the  affair.  In  addition  the 
church  has  regular  correspondents  for  the  Quarryville  and 
Lancaster  papers  whose  duty  it  is  to  provide  write-ups  of 
the  various  church  happenings  for  insertion  as  news.  The 
fourth  method  of  publicity  is  through  bulletin  boards,  of 
which  there  are  four,  located  at  Bartville,  Georgetown, 
Nickel  Mines  and  Nine  Points.  Display  posters  and  type¬ 
written  announcements  of  all  events  are  posted  on  them. 

Readers  of  this  volume  are  familiar  with  the  Par  Stand¬ 
ard  for  Rural  Churches  which  has  been  used  as  the  meas¬ 
uring  stick  in  all  the  recent  surveys.  The  Middle  Octoraro 
church  is  able  to  meet  every  one  of  the  thirty-one  points  on 
that  standard  though  one  of  them  only  in  part. 

LEADERSHIP 

In  a  very  real  sense  the  whole  program  pivots  on  the 
manse.  This  is  not  to  intimate  that  the  minister  alone  de¬ 
serves  credit.  He  has  built  upon  worthy  traditions  and  has 
had  many  excellent  and  loyal  helpers.  As  has  been  stated, 
nearly  half  the  members  take  some  definite  responsibility  and 
the  number  wholly  indifferent  is  also  negligible.  But  it  is 
a  characteristic  of  good  leadership  to  know  how  to  utilize 
traditions  and  how  to  develop  other  leaders  and  workers. 

This  has  been  the  first  and  only  pastorate  of  the  present 
minister,  Rev.  George  H.  Shea.  He  came  to  it  direct  from 


TWO  CENTURIES  OF  SUCCESS 


197 


the  seminary.  He  is  a  Pennsylvanian  himself,  with  the  same 
background  as  his  people.  The  mistress  of  the  manse  (and 
who  knows  how  much  of  the  minister’s  success  is  due  to 
his  wife?)  was  born  in  this  community.  These  two  have 
done  a  work  deserving  of  the  highest  praise.  They  have 
needed  vision  supported  by  faith,  energy  tempered  with  pa¬ 
tience.  This  is  a  conservative  church  and  community.  No 
one  would  be  quicker  to  admit  that  fact  than  those  who  have 
grown  up  in  it.  And  a  church  can  hardly  have  the  strength 
of  conservatism  without  its  weakness  also.  Changes  are  not 
to  be  effected  in  a  day.  For  such  a  field  the  present  pastor 
is,  both  by  training  and  temperament,  excellently  well  fitted. 
Of  a  quiet  and  forceful  personality,  he  commands  the  re¬ 
spect,  affection  and  loyalty  of  his  people.  He  is  vitally  in¬ 
terested  in  the  rural  ministry,  viewing  the  country  church  as 
a  life  work,  not  as  a  stepping  stone.  Through  summer 
schools  and  special  reading  he  has  familiarized  himself  with 
the  problems  and  the  possibilities  of  country  life  and  of 
the  country  church.  His  enthusiasm  and  the  practical  defi¬ 
niteness  of  his  plans  have  attracted  many  young  people  to 
the  church,  while  he  has  held  to  a  marked  degree  the  in¬ 
terest  and  support  of  the  older  people.  His  hand  is  in  all 
this  work  which  has  been  described,  and  it  is  a  worthy 
monument. 

Country  churches  like  Octoraro  are  among  the  chief  of 
America’s  treasures.  There  are  all  too  few  of  them.  Yet 
any  one  who  reads  this  record  of  what  the  Middle  Octoraro 
church  has  achieved  through  the  generations  cannot  but 
realize  that  what  has  been  accomplished  here  might  be  ac¬ 
complished  equally  well  by  other  churches  meeting  similar 
conditions.  There  is  no  hidden  secret  in  the  long  and  honor¬ 
able  record  of  this  church.  Rather  the  sources  of  its  suc¬ 
cess  are  an  open  book  for  all  to  read. 

The  Octoraro  church  has  attracted  to  it  a  succession  of 
able  and  devoted  pastors  who  have  dedicated  long  periods  of 
their  lives  to  its  service,  who  have  not  only  been  residents 
of  the  village  but  have  lived  there  long  enough  to  influence 
its  youth  from  the  cradle  to  maturity.  The  church  has  been 
broad  and  dynamic  enough  in  its  teaching  and  its  program 


198 


CHURCHES  OF  DISTINCTION 


to  draw  to  its  membership  people  from  the  open  country  as 
well  as  from  the  village,  and  people  of  all  ages  and  all  eco¬ 
nomic  groups. 

Not  a  little  of  its  continued  influence  has  been  due  to  the 
enlisting  of  so  many  of  its  members  in  managing  one  or 
another  of  its  diversified  activities.  The  leadership  and 
driving  power  for  community  betterment  of  every  kind  has 
been  supplied  by  the  church.  It  has  conceived  the  Gospel  of 
the  Kingdom  as  including  every  side  of  life.  It  has  prac¬ 
ticed  a  seven-day  religion,  reenforcing  its  membership  by 
continuous  cultivation  rather  than  by  spasmodic  pressure. 
Finally,  its  financial  policies  have  been  systematic  and  sound, 
with  the  result  that  the  burden  has  been  widely  distributed 
and  that  the  quota  for  benevolences  is  nearly  as  large  as  that 
for  maintenance. 

The  church  that  serves  is  the  church  that  grows.  A 
church  that  embarks  upon  a  broad-gauge  program  will  not 
itself  lose  thereby,  but  rather,  as  it  persistently  keeps  its 
evangelistic  and  spiritual  note  sounding  in  the  ears  of  its 
people,  will  grow  and  prosper  through  its  ministry  while  dig¬ 
ging  deep  the  foundations  for  the  Kingdom  in  the  life  of 
its  community.  That  is  the  secret  of  the  continued  success 
of  the  two  hundred-year-old  church  of  Middle  Octoraro. 


THE  END 


9 


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